III Shadows of Reality: Final Mix
by Krystal Lily Potter
Summary: Complete rewrite of Shadows of Reality. After the dreams end, you realize that reality can be much more cruel than anything fantasy can create. Especially when you lose control of your own life. S/K, R/N, Ri/OC
1. Prologue

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Prologue_

The fire crackled warmly in the large, brick fireplace, the soft flames eating the log slowly, turning it into glowing ashes. Bright hues of orange and gold filled the room as the warm air lingered lazily around. There were a few small lamps on, but no larger lights, giving the room a comfy, cozy feel, despite its sheer size. There were stacks of books, but not nearly the overwhelming amount that were stored in the office and library, as well as tasteful decorations and colourful furniture. The floor was made of a dark oak wood, and the walls were a mossy green, giving the room an earthy feel that wasn't seen through the rest of the large castle.

Disney was made of bright, vibrant colours of fire-engine reds, blazing oranges, sunny yellows, minty greens, sky blues, bright purples, blushing pinks and everything in between, all accenting the pure whites that made up most of Disney Castle. Even to the happiest of creatures, so many colours could become harsh on the eyes when seen all the time, so a few places were set aside where everything blended together in less vibrant tones. The room with the crackling fire and the soft, large couches and chairs was one of those rooms.

In one of the large, forest green chairs close to the fire sat an interesting creature. In comparison to the average human, it was smaller, but for the type of creature it was, it was very large in size. This creature in question was a large mouse with short black fur, a long tail and huge round ears. This particular creature wore a purple bow on the top of her head where a sparkling crown usually sat, and she was wearing a plain purple dress instead of the normally very elaborate dresses she usually wore, signifying that this one was, in fact, female. Her name was Minnie Mouse, and she was the Queen of Disney.

Disney was a large world made up of many small places. Disney Castle was the most impressive structure by far, but there were many small towns and slightly larger cities as well. The one bordering the castle was simply called Disney Town, while others held names such as Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach, Epcot, and many others.

The world was a very peaceful one, bursting to the seams with happiness and innocence. It was protected by a powerful source known as the Cornerstone of Light. No darkness could penetrate the innocent world.

There were many that didn't hold that naïve innocence about the world around them, and the worlds beyond, anymore. Queen Minnie was one of these figures, but the best example of such a creature could be found in the male mouse sitting across from her in a second, large, forest green chair. His name was Mickey Mouse, husband to Minnie, and the King of Disney.

As Minnie hummed to herself, enjoying the peace with the only sounds being the crackling of the fire, her humming, the scribbling of Mickey's pen, and the soft sound of her flipping the pages of her book. She was lost within the fairytale before her of princes and princesses, dragons and sea monsters, miracles and first kisses. She was definitely a romantic in heart and adored these stories. As much as she adored the stories though, she knew that some of the most amazing adventures were those that happened in real life.

She glanced up from her book, looking over at Mickey who was leisurely writing something down in a thick, very used notebook. He had another book on his lap and was looking back and forth between the two of them, no doubt noting something interesting that he had stumbled upon. Mickey had always been curious about everything around him, and loved to learn new and different things. He had a vast knowledge about many things in the universe, but at the same time, he still knew almost nothing to the mysteries that were out there. There were so many possible adventures to be had, but they were adventures that he couldn't pursue.

Minnie, Mickey admitted, was the better ruler out of the two of them. She always stayed to tend to Disney and the problems that arose there while he was running off chasing some problem or another. It wasn't that he didn't care about his kingdom, nor was it that the people hated him for leaving. He could just admit that, in the end, she was the better ruler of the two.

Mickey knew that his focus should have been solely on his world, just like all of the other monarchs who tended to his or her own world and none others. Sure, many of them worried about other places, but none of them went gallivanting around the worlds, practically destroying the balance of everything by letting other worlds know that there were other worlds out there. Instead, he went jumping from world to world to try and find the source of the growing darkness and to stop it. In all fairness, he hadn't actually expected to go to so many different worlds originally. He had wanted to help, he was curious, and he had taken Yen Sid's star piece without telling him. Or maybe Yen Sid left it there for him to find purposely as a test, he wouldn't put it past his former master.

Still, Mickey Mouse was a Keyblade Master, and it was his duty to protect the realm of light from disruption, particularly when the darkness became too much. Master Yen Sid had once been able to wield a Keyblade himself, but Mickey was his final apprentice. Mickey wanted to make his master proud of his choice to pass on his knowledge to him, so he would help fight the darkness or whatever else threatened the light.

Yen Sid had given Mickey, like most Keyblade Bearers, his gift through a rite of passage of sorts. If a Keyblade Master found a soul with a strong heart and the locked-away ability to use a Keyblade, they performed the ritual so that the person with the strong heart could 'unlock' their powers and access their Keyblade. That was how it went majority of the time.

However, in times of great war, darkness, or sadness, Keyblades would go to those without proper training. It had happened long ago on such a large scale that it was known as the Keyblade War. It was also happening again. Keyblades, though it seemed only one per world, were popping up everywhere. Still, compared to a war, it was only a small number of people who had them.

Mickey had a theory about that though. He believed that they actually were marked, but unknowingly, and maybe not physically. There was one person who was born with the natural ability to use the Keyblade without the need of a master. He grew and learned on his own, something that never happened before. He was a natural Keyblade Master. Mickey believed that this boy, maybe just through the connections in his heart, had unknowingly passed on the rite to use a Keyblade to those his heart trusted and who could. That boy's name was Sora Hikari.

Mickey frowned a bit. Sora didn't know, but they had met before, a very long time ago when he was only little. Mickey, in his first travels around the worlds, had made two friends whom he would never forget. Their names were Aqua and Ventus.

Ventus, or Ven to his friends, was Sora's older brother who had died years before. From what Aqua had told him, Ven had made a deal of some sort with someone dark (he never found out who) and had died in order to save Sora's life. Aqua, seeing the agony little Sora had gone through when he knew his brother wasn't coming home, had performed one of Ven's last requests: she figuratively put an end to him. No one remembered him anymore; it was like he had never existed. Except for Mickey. Aqua didn't have the heart to get rid of the memories completely, so she had left Mickey the sole guardian of the memories of Ventus. She vanished soon after, and Mickey had never seen her again. The two had been friends with a man named Terra that Mickey hadn't really met, but he had seen several times. He too had vanished. Mickey always wondered what happened to Aqua, and to an extent, Terra.

Ventus had been able to use a Keyblade, but he had gone through the ritual when he was very young (Aqua had said that Ven mentioned he didn't remember it, but his mother told him about it). Sora was a much different case than his older brother though. He had never gone through any sort of ritual, and Sora's abilities had come purely naturally to him. In theory, if Sora had needed his Keyblade as an infant, it would have came to him. That wasn't saying that he didn't need practice and training. Few of his abilities came to him right off the bat, and he often stumbled upon new abilities by accident or thanks to the help of others. Still, he needed no formal instruction like most Keyblade Masters in the past.

The power that the young man had within him, even if he didn't realize it, was astounding. It wasn't enough to recall his lost memories of his elder brother though.

Mickey's thoughts strayed over to the young man whom everyone had always assumed was only Sora's Nobody, Roxas. As it turned out, Roxas had been Sora's identical twin when they were born. When their original home of Twilight's Destiny had fallen and split into several worlds (including Twilight Town and Destiny Islands), little Roxas, who had only been six months old, had perished with Sora's father. It seemed that something had deemed Roxas still important enough so that, while his body was gone, his soul had lived on within his brother, later on acting as his Nobody.

What struck Mickey as odd was that Roxas had been originally born identical to Sora, and as a Nobody, he should have looked exactly like his Somebody (with maybe a few small differences, but not much), but instead he reappeared looking and sounding exactly like Ventus. This led Mickey to believe that maybe a piece of Ventus' heart had been left inside of his younger brother after he died, maybe the entire thing. Mickey had once thought of asking Sora if he had seen any hints to a person named Ventus, or if it sounding familiar at all, but he refrained. He had promised not to reveal anything until the time was right, and it wasn't right yet.

There was a sudden knock at the wooden door, startling Mickey out of his thoughts. Minnie gave him only a quick glance as he jumped slightly before calling out to the person to come in.

A second later, the door slid open and a tall, dog-like creature peered in cautiously. From far away, many people assumed that this creature went by the name of Goofy Goof, Captain of the Royal Guard, but that wasn't exactly accurate. This dog-like creature was younger than Goofy, only in his teenage years. He was actually Goofy's son, Maximilian Goof, also simply known as Max.

Max tried as hard as he could to separate himself from his rather random and accident-prone father, and as such he decided not to join the royal guard. Instead, he worked with the communications systems with the castle, making sure that they could stayed connected to other places in the castle, the gummi ships and other words. He, Chip and Dale were always looking to improve what they had, so there were usually odds and ends all over the communications room, but Mickey didn't mind. Max was ambitious, and Mickey was just glad that he was using his ambition for something good.

"Your majesty," the teenager said to the mouse-king. "There's a transmission for you from Radiant Garden."

"Radiant Garden?" Mickey asked with slight surprise. Over the past few years, the officials that set themselves up in Radiant Garden wanted less and less to do with outside words. In fact, from what Mickey could see, there was a growing resentment towards other worlds there. He supposed it stemmed from Maleficent's takeover of the world, but they were beginning to shun even those who wanted to help them.

"Yeah," Max answered, knowing the situation with Radiant Garden as much as Mickey did. "Leon actually. He seems anxious about something."

Mickey nodded and quickly set his books on the finely polished coffee table that was in the room before following Max down towards the large communications room.

It was another room that didn't really fit with what one would expect in association with Disney. It was a huge room that had a very modern look and feel to it with computers, screens and all kinds of gadgets everywhere. Professor Von Drake often spent his time in there, and in the labs down the hall, but what he did, Mickey never knew. He was a nice duck, but a little bit eccentric.

Max set up the system for Mickey to use so that he could use the video-call features, and quickly backed out of the room, giving the king some privacy.

A second later, an image of a familiar man appeared in front of Mickey. The mouse knew him as Squall Leonhart, preferably known as Leon to his friends and associates. He had been the unofficial head of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee, but now that other officials had come in, he wasn't deemed anything important but a good fighter. Still, the one thing these officials recognized was that he had good connections with others outside their world, so it wasn't surprising that it was him contacting Mickey.

"Your Majesty," Leon said to him rather warily, "we have a serious problem on our hands here."

"What kind of trouble? Heartless?" Mickey asked with worry.

"I almost wish," the man said with a sigh. "No, this is a political issue."

"Oh, well, what can I do to help ya?" He was honestly curious about this, because Radiant Garden politicians didn't seem to want any help or opinions from outsiders.

"Well, they decided that while they have their Prime Minister, cabinet and everything," Leon explained, "that they also need a figurehead to represent their monarchy. They would have the power to overturn laws and such, but like I said, they just want a person to be able to say that they're royalty. Something to do with keeping Radiant Garden as a high and mighty place, I don't know. The problem that you can help me with though, is who they want to be their royal figurehead. They want it to be a person born to the original royalty of Radiant Garden. Of course, they only decided this after they found out that the Princess was actually still alive."

Mickey felt his heart start thumping painfully as he asked, "What are they planning on doing to get her?"

"Their first action is what's happening now: trying to find a way to peacefully tell her to come home. If she refuses, it's going to get worse. From what I heard, these idiots that took over the castle are willing to force her back, even if they either have to claim her as kidnapped and demand her return home from the world she's in, or by kidnapping her themselves."

Mickey Mouse was normally a rather kind and peace-loving creature, but at that moment he felt a wave of pure hate run through him. What gave those people the right to demand that a girl who hadn't been raised as a Princess since she was only five return to a world that she didn't consider home? Didn't they know what they were getting themselves into? The Princess in question was a girl that Mickey was very familiar with, a young woman named Kairi Kokoro. On top of being the Princess of Radiant Garden, she was also a Princess of Heart, having no darkness at all within her heart, and a Keyblade Bearer.

Kairi, Mickey knew, considered Destiny Islands to be her true home now, not some world she couldn't even remember. She had told Mickey once that even if she hadn't lost her memories, she had only been five when she was taken from Radiant Garden, so she wouldn't remember all that much about it anyway. She would not agree to return just because they wanted her to.

A small chuckle suddenly escaped Mickey's lips, causing Leon to stare at him curiously. "Sorry, I just—I know she won't come back, and I'm not forcing her, so it's up to your officials. If I'm right, she's going to be old enough in a week or two where she can just say 'no I wasn't kidnapped' or something along those lines and they won't be able to do a thing since she'll be a legal adult. I almost hope that they try to kidnap her."

"What?" Leon asked, and though he didn't show it, Mickey knew this startled him. "Why?"

Mickey chuckled again and said, "Sora."

Sora and Kairi had been in a serious relationship since they were sixteen (well, Sora had been and Kairi turned sixteen later on), and from what Mickey knew, they weren't about to break up any time soon. The last Mickey heard, they were closer than ever. He knew that Sora would never ever let someone take Kairi against her will. He had admitted to Mickey before that he felt like it was his fault that Kairi had been kidnapped by one of their enemies. Mickey knew that Sora would always look back on the incident with guilt, but he also knew that it would motivate Sora beyond anything else to keep Kairi safe. Mickey almost hoped that they tried to go after Kairi because the slightly bitter part in him hoped that they would run into a very angry Sora. Mickey could admit that he was slightly sore with the officials of Radiant Garden, because he had done so much to help their world, as had Sora, and they didn't care about that at all. Without Sora, their world would still be a ghost town filled with darkness.

On top of the fact that Sora was not only Kairi's boyfriend, he was the Keyblade Master as well. If the young man wanted to push it even more, he could rightfully claim to be the Prince of Twilight's Destiny, even if the world didn't actually exist anymore.

"I'm sure the kidnapping scheme won't fall through," Leon said, although he too would have loved to see some of these arrogant people meet the angry end of Sora's Keyblade. "They've actually already begun pulling out all kinds of crazy laws to force her to come back. I'm assuming that they assumed, rightfully, that this idea of asking to relay the message wouldn't work."

"They don't have much faith in other worlds," Mickey said. "I have a feeling that you weren't really relaying this to me for the purpose of the officials, were you Leon?"

"No," he admitted. "I wanted to warn them, but I have no way to get a hold of them."

Mickey didn't actually have a reliable way to get a hold of them either, but he knew that if fate wanted them to know what was happening with Radiant Garden, his message would reach them. He looked at Leon and said, "Don't worry about it, I'll make sure they know."

Mickey wasn't exactly sure what was going to happen, but he was certain that life was about to get a little bit more interesting.

**VVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

I thought about waiting until after my exams to start this, but I figured I'd give you guys something. Don't expect an update until maybe next weekend though, because I have 3 papers, a take-home exam, and two actual exams to write this week. Don't expect updates quite as quickly as they were at the end of Sleep. It'll probably get to about once a week until I've finalized all of the changes I plan to make in this.

In the next chapter you can expect to get a brief lesson behind Destiny Islands in my world. Also, some people might remember how the adventure parts took a little while to get started. Just warning you up front that it's the same in this one. Mostly because the adventure is important, but there are bigger, more important aspects to this story.

Also expect some characters to be a little OOC at times. An example is the pretty bitter Mickey that's shown in this.

Remember to drop a review!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	2. Island In The Sun

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter One – Island In The Sun_

The sun was bright in the pale blue sky, even early in the morning on Destiny Islands. It always started to heat up early in the day, the sun's light making the air comfortably warm until it reached the peak in the sky, and that was when the islands' temperatures soared. Those who lived there were used to such hot times, since it was the weather that they had all year round, even in the middle of winter. Few of the inhabitants had never even heard of snow before, let alone having seen it. The only time that the weather became remotely cold was during the vicious hurricanes that hit their island every year, but they were all well prepared for them now. There were usually trees that fell over and plants that were ripped up, but aside from that, the houses were rooted extremely securely. There hadn't been any huge losses due to the hurricanes in years.

The clear, aqua water lapped at the sandy beaches of the islands that day, not showing any signs of storms or anything else on the horizon. It wasn't hurricane season, but they did get pretty vicious storms from time to time anyway. That day was already shaping up to be a good one though. Already, people were rising and going on with their days, be it taking care of their homes, walking to school or traveling to work.

Destiny Islands was an almost odd chain of islands really. All of the islands originally had traditional names in the old language, but those had been lost to the more colloquial and universal language of English.

The largest island was the one where the largest population of people lived, yet it wasn't nearly the most advanced or busy of the islands. This particular one was simply called Destiny Island. The island itself was singular, and the island chain was plural, that was how they told them apart.

There were many shops and stores with some things like movie theatres, arcades and such, and there were a few offices, a fire station, a police station, a hospital and two schools at either end of the island, but aside from that there wasn't really all that much to it aside from houses. Instead, what most people did was they commuted to the second largest island, known as Future Island. This island had industries, large buildings, paved roads, shopping malls, and was the most advanced of all of the islands. Those who lived on that island tended to live in apartment buildings. It was where the majority of people worked.

Hope Island did have many small businesses, but what that island was known for was the two universities and three colleges that took up the majority of it. Faith Island was where the monuments to the God of Light, Mitsukai and the Goddess of Darkness, Akuma. That was where all the historical documents were kept as well. The last two islands were uninhabited.

Legend Island was an island with little vegetation and dozens of ruins of ancient buildings. Little was known about who or what made the ruins there, hence the name of the island. The last island was Mystery Island. It was named as such because of its thick, dense jungles that were widely unexplored. Anyone who had gone into the jungles had never returned.

Besides those main islands, there were several tiny, unnamed islands dotting the ocean around them. On only one of these little islands grew a special, star-shaped fruit. At one point of time, it was believed that the paopu tree was an endangered species, but more of them had been discovered dotting the thick jungle of Mystery Island. Of course, those were only the ones in the first kilometer or so of the island, because the rest was unexplored. The fruit that grew on the tree, a paopu fruit, was a special one that was used in marriage ceremonies, hence why the legend of it binding people together was created. Children were told over and over not to touch it though, and there were rarely any problems of teenagers or younger people eating them. The kids just didn't care once their parents told them no, and the teenagers were more interested in pizza, pop and alcohol and not fruit.

The sun shone through one of the upstairs windows of a fairly average house, falling upon one of the few people who had tried the rare fruit before being married. Despite the warmth, he was wrapped under a mountain of blankets, a few chills still in his body from the flu that he had recently suffered through. As the sun touched the tanned skin of Sora Hikari's face, his nose twitched and his eyes squeezed together before slowly slipping open. He blinked several times, his cerulean eyes looking around his messy room curiously before landing on the alarm clock on his bedside table. He let out a groan and buried his face in his pillow. It was only seven in the morning and he didn't have to be at school until eight thirty, so he had no clue why he was awake.

Try as he might, Sora couldn't get back to sleep. Normally, he could sleep anywhere at any given time, but this time his body just wouldn't let him return to his slumber. With an annoyed grumble, the young man pushed off his blankets and rolled out of his bed, stalking out of the room and to the bathroom with a rather tired and cranky scowl on his face.

He glanced at himself at the mirror and actually had to smirk at his spiky, caramel-coloured locks of hair that stuck up hilariously in every direction, even more so than normal. He started fiddling with the taps in the bathtub, hearing someone else stumble out of their room and wander down the stairs. Ignoring that, Sora quickly turned on the shower, threw off his boxers and got in. The warm water hit his back and he hissed a bit from pain, confused at why it stung. He reached back and touched the spot, feeling a rise in the skin from a scratch mark that hadn't quite broken the skin. He was confused for only a moment before chuckling as he remembered how he got it.

Sora knew that if any of his friends could see the ten lines on his back, they would instantly start teasing him about having a rough night with his girlfriend. It was true enough that she had been the one to give him those marks, but these particular ones had been because he thought showing her how he could fly was a good idea. Kairi Kokoro was not a huge fan of heights when the only thing stopping her from falling was his hold on her. Needless to say, she had gripped him tightly enough to make those marks through his shirt.

Sora's mind wandered to his girlfriend, but that wasn't a surprise since he was, first and foremost, a teenage boy. Admittedly, he was a bit more of a "sap" (as Riku put it) than a lot of guys his age, going through loops to keep his girlfriend happy at all costs. The only other thing that really made him different from the average teenaged boy was the fact that he was the Keyblade Master. Some people did know this, but it wasn't a widely known fact on Destiny Islands, so most people didn't bother him for information about his powerful weapon. No, instead the other guys asked for stories about his "bombshell" (their words, not his) of a girlfriend. He refused to share details unless it was with Riku or Roxas (sometimes Tidus and Wakka too, depending on what was being said). To some of those guys, the hotter the girl was the only thing that mattered, but Sora never thought like that, not about Kairi. There was no doubt in his mind that she was the one he wanted to spend his life with, and even after two years of dating, they didn't seem to be getting bored of one another.

He finished washing his hair (it was always a tedious task) and the rest of his body quickly. He never had understood why people took really longer showers everyday. He wasn't opposed to them if he was really sore, half asleep, or if said girlfriend joined him, but aside from that, he was always in and out quick enough. He wrapped a towel around his waist and quickly went back into his own room, seeing the black hair of the woman he and his brother had adopted as their older sister as she vanished into the bathroom. He glanced at his digital clock and chuckled a bit when he realized that Midori Natio was running very late.

As he pulled on his school uniform, which consisted of a pair of hideous bright blue pants, a white, button-up shirt and a blue, plaid tie, he once again thought about his girlfriend. Almost everything reminded him of her. When he thought about how he was glad that his pants weren't plaid like the girl's skirts were, he thought about how good her skirt looked on her, when he tried to tie up his tie, he would think about how he loved it when she got close to tie it for him (that was usually why he never bothered to tie it right), and when he smelled burning he would—

Sora's mind came to a sudden stop. Burning?

It took him a split second to realize why he smelled burning, and another second to launch himself out of his room and down the stairs, stumbling and crashing into the wall, before he finally managed to skid into the kitchen.

The bitter smell of burning hit him stronger than ever, and his eyes began to water as the charcoal smoke assaulted them. He coughed and fanned the air in front of him, looking for the culprit. Finally, he caught sight of a figure that was standing over the stove, desperately trying to stop the smoke.

"What the fuck, Roxas?"

The young man at the stove turned around, reveal a face that was identical to Sora's. The only differences between the two of them were their hairstyles and colours, as well as their voices. Of course, they were twins, so the fact that they looked so much alike wasn't really a surprise.

Roxas looked at him with panic and said, "It was just a pizza! The box said 20 minutes on 350 degrees!"

Sora coughed again and opened the windows and turning on all of the fans. Once the smoke cleared a bit, he grabbed the pizza box and read the instructions. Raising an eyebrow for a moment, he was surprised to see that Roxas was right about the instructions. Along with the fact that he was wondering why Roxas wanted pizza for breakfast, he wondered how his twin could have—

"Roxas!" he exclaimed with an annoyed groan. "This is in Fahrenheit . You turned it up to 350 degrees Celsius !"

"How was I supposed to know that? Everything is in Celsius here!" was the only answer that came from the blond. Truthfully, Sora couldn't blame him, because what kind of frozen pizza needed to be cooked at 350 degrees Celsius? Still, he wasn't going to tell his brother that.

A cough caught their attention and then both looked around as Midori entered the room, her shoulder length black hair still wet from her shower, and her dark brown eyes flashing with annoyance. She looked at Roxas and asked, "Why the hell were you using the stove? You know you always burn stuff! It's like you have an inner pyro or something that needs to burn everything! Stick with sandwiches, it's all your good at cooking."

"Ouch," Sora said. "Someone just got sent to the kitchen to make a sammich."

"Don't you start," she said while pointing her index finger at him so close that he went cross-eyed to stare at it. "You can't cook anything either." She clearly didn't get the joke he was referring to (Roxas' grin showed that he did), but Sora wasn't all too surprised. She was rather out of the loop with any internet or pop culture references. Technology and Midori were mortal enemies.

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. And that's not true! I made Kairi an awesome supper once! And I made a pretty awesome sundae with chocolate, caramel, strawberries, whip cream, sprinkles and—"

"Dude, we don't need to hear the list of things you bring with you to Kairi's house when you're alone!" Roxas cried out while waving his hands in the air.

Instead of acting embarrassed and blushing, Sora just smirked at his brother and said, "That's not true, I don't bring that stuff to her house—"

"Oh god," Midori muttered, knowing where this was going.

"—we use that stuff in your room," Sora said, mostly just to spite his twin. "It's okay though, I know you're just jealous because Naminé won't—"

"I am not going to listen to this," Midori interrupted as she shook her head. "I'm going to be late for my classes as is. Roxas, you need to get changed and Sora, we really don't need to hear the details of what you and Kairi do when you're alone. We really don't."

Sora pouted a bit and Roxas sighed, going to head up to take a shower. Sora watched his brother go for a second before yelling, "You're just jealous because Naminé's a prude!" With that, he quickly darted by Roxas and up into his own room.

"Yeah, well at least my girlfriend can't blackmail me into going to school every day with sex!" Roxas yelled back while stalking up the stairs after his twin.

Midori shook her head and let out a sigh. She taught young children martial arts, but sometimes she felt like they were more mature than Sora and Roxas were. Then again, they were hormonally charged young men, both with very attractive girlfriends, so she couldn't expect anything else from them when they weren't in public places. She fixed the dark green t-shirt she was wearing and made sure that her black shorts didn't have anything on them. Making sure that she had all of her things in her bag, she tied up her hair and rushed out the door. She hoped that Sora and Roxas could get to school on their own, but she couldn't be too sure.

**VVVVVV**

Kairi grinned warmly at her mother, who happily made her way around the kitchen, making breakfast for her adopted daughter and her adopted niece before she had to head off to work. After Kairi's father, Daisuke Yamada, had died in the attack on the islands, Suzu, had been forced to get a job. She worked at a local jewelry store, but because it was only her bringing in munny, she had to work quite often.

Suzu's eyes glanced at her daughter who sat at the table with a book in front of her. She had to admit that it was a bit of a relief that she rarely ever had to buy Kairi and Naminé anything and could focus on bills and groceries. Their boyfriends, Sora and Roxas, practically doted on the girls, and though Suzu was skeptical about where they got the money, she never once questioned it.

Still, she was skeptical about the boys, mainly because they were teenage boys. Naminé was the picture of teenage innocent. She had come right out saying that she had never once slept with her boyfriend, and had no intentions to until she was married. Kairi was another thing though. She too looked like the picture of innocence, sitting at the table patiently waiting for her breakfast while going over her homework again, but Suzu wasn't fooled. The girl was infinitely more mischievous than her cousin. While at times she looked like the picture of innocence, there were other times when Suzu knew she was the exact opposite. That could have been because of the marks that her daughter tried to hide on her neck, the muffled sounds that she heard from the girl's bedroom when she didn't think that her mother was home, or even because of the numerous amount of time that she walked in on her and her boyfriend in a very deep lip-lock, not caring where their hands were resting. She would really have to talk to the girl about all of this sometime soon.

That was something she was dreading. Giving her almost 18-year-old daughter 'the talk'. When she thought about it though, it was a bit pathetic. She should have told Kairi that it was best to wait for marriage years ago. Suzu liked to claim that she could read people easily, and if she had to be a hundred percent honest, she highly doubted her daughter's claims of physical purity and innocence.

She looked over as Naminé walked in the room, eyeing Kairi oddly. The blonde sat at the table before asking, "What's with the makeup?"

"I always wear makeup," Kairi replied, giving her the same odd look.

"You wear light eye shadows, mascara and sometimes clear lip gloss. You never wear eyeliner and coloured lip gloss." Naminé was the more observant of the two, but it extended from her talent with art. Suzu hadn't noticed the additional makeup on her daughter, but now that she did, she too was suspicious.

Kairi sighed dramatically and said, "Can you blame me for flirting with my boyfriend more to try and see what he got me for my birthday? Mom used to do that to daddy all the time too." She certainly knew when to push what buttons. Suzu couldn't deny that whenever she had wanted something from her late husband, she would always doll herself up more and be more touchy-feeling. She couldn't really call her daughter out on something that she herself had showed her.

"Kairi?" Suzu said as she placed their breakfast in front of the two teenagers. "You and I need to have a talk later, okay sweetie?"

"Why? I haven't done anything wrong," she replied while staring up at her adopted mother with wide eyes. The woman couldn't help but notice that Kairi was blessed with the ability to make herself look completely innocent, making it very difficult to be angry with her. She didn't answer Kairi's question, instead choosing to sit and eat with them.

Kairi's phone buzzed and she looked at it with interest. A moment later Kairi started shoveling her food into her quickly. Naminé rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Sora."

They were done fairly quickly (mostly because Kairi just stuffed everything in while Naminé always ate less anyway) and soon they had their bags and were waiting on the front steps of their house. Sora and Roxas insisted that they wait every morning for them, if only so they could spend more time together.

**VVVVVV**

Riku was up at the crack of dawn, but not by his own choice. Normally, he woke a bit earlier any of his friends would anyway, but today his father had ordered him out of bed bright and early. No, forget bright and early, it had still been dark.

Every morning, Riku got up to do his normal exercise routine that had only been slightly altered as he got older. That morning though, along with his normal routine, his father put him through an intense workout. Riku had done pushups, sit ups, pull-ups, and now he was running. He had been running for at least half an hour without slowing down or taking a break. It was only on a track, so he couldn't escape the judgmental and prying eyes of his father.

He was nineteen now, so he could have just told his father off and went back to sleep. That's not the way things worked on Destiny Islands though, and it was certainly not the way Riku was raised. In a way, his eagerness to leave the islands stemmed from wanting to escape his rather controlling father. Admittedly, the arrogance that he had while he was younger made him believe that he knew what he was doing and didn't need his father anymore, so he had believed that he was ready to leave the islands. He knew better now. Riku had grown up believing that he had to be the best at everything, but his father was always harsh on him so he never got there. Acting superior around people, especially Sora, made him feel a bit better, like he wasn't failing his father.

Family was one of the most important things to those on Destiny Islands, the main island in particular. To disrespect family or to leave them was highly frowned upon. That was why Riku's mother had left the Destiny Island to go to Future Island, because people there were always busy, and none of them seemed to worry about family traditions all that much.

Riku wasn't about to complain that he was nineteen and still being punished by his father. He would let his old man think that he got to him, and everything would be settled then. Of course, his father would make him go inside and ask the God and Goddess for forgiveness, but that was okay with him. He didn't have to go through any priest or preacher like in other worlds. The belief was that the God and Goddess were always listening to everyone, but those who created small shines or alters in their home were heard clearer than those who didn't. Anything beyond a small shrine was considered arrogant though, and would be ignored. Some people, like Riku and his family, believed that they were real, and others, like Sora, scoffed at the idea. Riku never understood how Sora could make friends with Gods in some worlds, and still not believe in his own. Sometimes he wondered if the brunet knew something that no one else did. It really wouldn't surprise him.

He couldn't wait to be finished this running though. He really needed to apologize to his girlfriend for taking off so quickly the day before. She was actually the reason he was being punished, but he didn't blame her. It was his fault that he had stayed at her house all weekend. Well, she had invited him because her parents weren't home, but that didn't matter. It had been his decision.

Ever since they had got back to Destiny Islands, Riku had gone through several different girlfriends, and the times that he didn't have a girlfriend were minimal. Looking back, the longest was probably a week. It wasn't like he was a complete player though. In the course of two years he had gone through four girlfriends and was on his fifth. If he averaged it out, it was like having each girlfriend for over four months, and that was an impressive feat over all. He was very picky about what girls he wanted to date, but he always got the one he wanted in the end. He had no interest in a long-term relationship like Sora and Kairi or Roxas and Naminé did, so it worked out fine for him.

His father had asked him a few times 'what about that nice Midori girl?' but Riku simply said that she was a friend and nothing more.

As he ran his mind shifted to his friends. He wondered what they were doing at that point of time.

**VVVVVV**

Naminé eyed Kairi as she quickly swallowed a small pill without any water. She had a several month supply hidden at Sora's house, but she always kept her current pack on her but well hidden from her mother. Kairi wasn't stupid though, she knew that her mother was suspicious about her private activities with her boyfriend. In all fairness, the woman's paranoia was bang on, but Kairi didn't dare admit it. Hearing her admit that she was actually having a physical relationship with her boyfriend would set her mother off, she was sure of it. It was fairly frowned upon for people to have a physical relationship before marriage on Destiny Islands.

She suddenly looked at Naminé, who was frowning at her and asked, "What?"

"You're not very careful with those." She nodded to Kairi's purse, where the girl in question had just tossed her birth control pills for now until she had to hide them again at night.

Kairi rolled her eyes and asked, "Really Nam? This again? I've been taking these pills for over a year now. I know what I'm doing. No need to get overprotective on me." Naminé fit in perfectly with the mantra of the island people.

"Yeah you're do—" Naminé cut herself off when Suzu walked out the door locking it behind her.

She smiled at the two girls and said, "Have a great day. I'm working late so you'll have to fend for yourself for supper. Love you both."

They waved the woman off before a heavy silence settled around the two of them. It was a familiar silence that Kairi had become accustomed to once Naminé got used to having her own heart. The blonde was not impressed with her in any way, shape or form.

Kairi always found it interesting just how much their personalities contrasted now that they were different people. She had always thought of Naminé as her timid side but still the same, but now she realized that their personalities were fairly different. Especially compared to Sora and Roxas. Roxas acted exactly like he had while he was Sora's Nobody. Kairi guess that it was because Roxas' soul became a part of Sora's at such a young age. It was how his spirit or soul, or whatever it was grew. Naminé had already developed her own personality before she had originally died though.

"Don't start," Kairi snapped at her quickly.

"What? It's not my fault you act like such a…a…slut!" Naminé shot back.

"A slut?" Kairi's cheeks were turning red with anger. "I would never ever cheat on Sora and you know that!"

"Okay, maybe that isn't the right word," Naminé conceded. "But really, do you guys even actually go on dates? Or do anything that doesn't involve getting the other in bed?"

Kairi scowled at her and said, "Of course we do! I don't know what you think, but we're not that bad! We have personal rules and we follow them! You of all people should know how much we care about each other. It's not like we're just…fuck buddies or something."

Naminé frowned a bit. She knew that she was over reacting a bit, but she sometimes forgot that she wasn't just outside of Kairi for a period of time, that they were both their own people. Sure, it had been a while since she became her own person, but sometimes it still felt odd.

She knew for a fact that she should just let it go, but Naminé found that, while she was timid with everyone except for her close friends, she was incredibly stubborn, even more so than Kairi. She never could just let an issue drop.

With a sigh, Naminé shook her head and said, "I just thought you'd have more self-respect. Especially after what happened." She had meant it to be more of a closing statement to just let the topic go, but she realized a second too late that she had brought up the wrong subject. Really, now Naminé just wanted to put her foot in her mouth. Bringing up that was not a way to pacify Kairi.

"Don't you dare," Kairi hissed at her angrily. "Don't you dare bring that up. You have no right. I saved you from having to experience that too by keeping you out. So never bring that up again."

There was a heavy silence between the two and Naminé felt bad about what she had said. She shook her head and said, "That was uncalled for, I admit it. I just—at first you guys seemed to be perfectly happy just going on dates but now it's like…it looks like you guys just don't feel the same way anymore."

Kairi glared at her before snapping, "You know what, you're just jealous. Jealous because I went through hell, but you're the one who's scared to get intimate with her boyfriend!"

"I choose not to!" Naminé yelled back at her instantly, clenching her fists in anger. "There's nothing wrong with that! At least I know what I have with Roxas doesn't depend on how often he gets laid!"

Kairi let out a frustrated sound and was about to say something else but she stopped. She quickly moved off the steps and rushed around the corner. A second later, Roxas appeared, looking fairly confused. Upon seeing his angry girlfriend, he asked, "What happened now?"

Naminé breathed out and mumbled, "We were just blowing things out of proportions, that's all. I just…I'm worried about her. About both of them. It's almost like they're losing the depth that they had to their relationship and don't even realize it."

Roxas wrapped an arm around her shoulder and said, "It's because that's what they want you to see. They want to just be normal teenagers. There's nothing wrong with that. Sora told me once that they're like the opposite of us. They don't mind PDA or anything like that because the deeper stuff is just between them. It's just…a different outlook on things Nam."

She sighed a bit and said, "I know. I just…I guess I'm still not used to…not having a say in what Kairi does. Do you feel like that with Sora?"

He shrugged a bit as they started walking and said, "To be honest, not really. I guess it's because I kinda get why Sora does whatever he does. He and I are a lot more a like than you and Kairi are now. We don't really have a say in what they do, just like they don't have a say in what we do. Like when I did that skateboarding dare, or when you decided to join those people chaining themselves to trees in protest. I guess…you just have to let it go."

"When did you get so wise?" Naminé asked playfully. She sighed a bit and said, "I guess you're right. Come on, let's get to school."

Roxas groaned and asked, "Do we have to?"

"Yes."

"Good thing you can bribe or blackmail me the way Kairi does to Sora. Gives me a choice if I want to go or not."

Naminé raised an eyebrow and moved out from under his arm, facing him and placing her hands on her hips. "If you ever want any sort of affection at all, you'll keep marching to that building."

He blinked at her before his shoulders slumped down and he siad, "Yes ma'am."

Naminé laughed and took his hand into her own as they continued on towards the school.

**VVVVVV**

Sora was a little stunned when Kairi suddenly shot around the corner and into his arms. She buried her face in his shoulder, and he glanced up at Roxas, who shrugged and walked away, looking as confused as he felt.

Kairi mumbled something against his neck and he pulled away a bit, leaning down just slightly so that he could stare directly into her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's just Naminé again," she grumbled. "Any time she sees me taking birth control or something, she starts on some sort of rant about how I should have waited until marriage and everything. Why can't she accept that it's my choice what I want to do. I'm in love with you, so what does it matter?"

Sora smiled at her and said, "I'm in love with you too Iri, never ever doubt that. Naminé, she's just protective over you, that's all. You and her used to be one person and she cares about what happens to you."

"She said I act like a slut."

"Okay, so she's PMSing. Don't hit me for saying that. Ow!" She punched him gently anyway, rolling her eyes as he rubbed his arm dramatically. He took his hand into hers and the two began heading towards the school. They could see Roxas and Naminé walking in front of them, but neither one bothered calling out to them.

Sora smirked suddenly and said, "Besides, when we're alone there's nothing wrong with...acting."

She grinned impishly at him and said, "I guess you're right." She suddenly stopped him from walking, standing in front of him, ignoring his confused look. She pushed herself against him, wrapping her arms around his neck while kissing him.

Sora, while a little stunned by her actions, was automatically wary. The morning usually consisted of a quick kiss when they met and one again when they had to part for their classes. It wasn't usually an opened mouth, tongue-twisting kiss. He pulled away from her before he really got into it, staring at her with a questioning look.

"What?"

"You want something," he said simply. "I know you want something." He continued to study her face before his eyes widened and he said, "No."

"No what?" she asked.

"I am not telling you what I got you for your birthday," Sora replied.

"Please?" Kairi pouted. She saw his stubborn look waver before he shook his head negatively. She stomped her foot on the ground like a small child who didn't get the toy they wanted with their Joyous Meal from McDoozels.

Sora wrapped an arm around her waist, trying to get her to walk, but she was being stubborn and refused to move. He sighed and said, "Come on Iri. You'll find out on your birthday." She still wouldn't move so he sighed again, wrapped his arm around her and suddenly threw her onto his shoulder before walking towards the school.

"Sora!" she screamed with surprise when he did. She glared at his back and said, "Put me down!"

"And let you be pouty again? I think not. I'll let you down when we get to school."

She frowned before sighing and letting herself slump against him, not as tense as before, "Fine, but can you at least carry me in both of your arms instead of over your shoulder? It's more comfortable. Plus then I won't be flashing the world like I am right now."

Sora just laughed and moved her so that she was cradled in his arms instead of over his shoulder. It was just a normal day on the island in the sun.

**VVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Basically an average morning for them. The next chapter is more of their average school day lives. I know, it's going to seem a bit slow, but just go with it, okay? I'm actually doing this for a reason. It's not just me wanting to boost up the amount of chapters. There's a method to my madness.

I got done my assignments faster than I thought I would, and I rocked my exam today, so I decided to update earlier than I said I would. Don't expect this to happen all the time though. I'm not that far ahead in writing.

Wow, I did not expect that many people to review this! You guys are awesome! Like…more awesome than the most awesome thing you know!

Though I'm sure this isn't an issue with most people, I have to stress that it's important that you read the two prequels to this before reading the rest of this story. So that's Shadows of Sleep: Final Mix then Shadows of a Dream: Final Mix.

Thank you to all the awesome reviewers! This includes: Taeniaea, Jad826, Shire Folk, Dowski, Trainalf, patriots12, Twilight Cardmistress, The 666th necrophiliac, and 16afoster. You guys all made my day!

Remember to drop a review! I'd really appreciate it. And though I'm ahead in writing, as we go, if anyone has any suggestions, don't hesitate to send it. I may be able to work them in!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	3. Ordinary Day

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Two – Ordinary Day_

High school was not a real adventure. Unlike the rest of the students who went to high school and believed that it was truly the world's hardest test, Sora knew different. People went there, went to classes, messed around with their friends, dated, went to parties, and so on. It was nothing spectacular or special, no matter which dramatic twist you tried to put on it.

Sora heard girls complaining that their boyfriends cheated or didn't spend every hour of every day with them. While he didn't condone cheating, he couldn't blame the boyfriends, at least not with those girls. He had seen a few that didn't deserve it, but he found that those were few and far in between. It was the same situation vice versa. For a place with such conservative views on relationships and life, there was certainly a fair share of players and whores. The parents just didn't know about it.

Aside from those exceptions, most people just hung around with their own friends, being polite to those they didn't know. There were a few exceptions, but not many. Nobody really got in each other's business because it didn't matter. He saw a TV show once where they held an assembly to expose a person cheating on a test, and Sora knew that if that had happened in real life people would have just thought the principal was insane. Kind of like in the (stupid) romantic comedy he watched with Kairi one time. In this case, it was a guy and a girl confessing they liked each other, and then there were a whole bunch of people spying on them. Sora would have been pissed if someone did that to him and Kairi. His life was horribly clichéd enough as it was without the horrible, unrealistic views of high school that people seemed to have.

It was not a real adventure. Not compared to traveling throughout the worlds with strange animals, fighting beings made of darkness and nothingness with a giant, blunt key (that could somehow slice through just about anything, despite being blunt) as your choice of weapon.

Maybe high school was a little bit more dramatic lately than any other time. It was May, and their school year officially ended at the second week of June. That meant that graduation, prom, and all that stuff was coming up soon. It made Sora a little angry, because this was originally the year he was supposed to graduate. All their school years got pushed back though because they ended up missing nearly a year when the islands were gone. This year, however, both Riku and Wakka were graduating.

Already, their combined graduation party was rumored to be the graduation party of the summer. Riku had come up to Sora one day and said that he and Wakka were combining their parties into one and they were having it at his place. Sora just shrugged, not really caring as long as the house wasn't totaled. He always put away the things his mother had cherished so that it wouldn't get ruined in any parties, since they had them at their house more often than not when there was a party.

Sora, Roxas and Midori didn't mean for their home to become the party place, but there was guaranteed not to be any angry parents storming in, and the house was back off the road surrounded by trees on three sides with the exception of the drive way cutting through the trees. The fourth side had a hill that led down to the ocean, but few people ventured down that way during the parties. There was always a few people sober though, watching the beach just in case. The house was far enough off of the road so that they didn't disturb other people and houses, but it was close enough so that they could get help if they needed to.

Sora was broken out of his thoughts as he bumped into a girl, but she didn't seem to notice or care. She was too busy rambling on to her friend about her prom dress. He smirked a bit at the thought of prom. Riku was going with his current girlfriend, a pretty brunette named Aria, and he had complained more than once about it. Not the girl, the idea that there was a lot of planning behind it. There were limos to rent, restaurants to book, after parties to prepare for, and dress clothes to purchase. Aria was a girl who loved vibrant colours, and her dress was a flashy combination of neon colours (specifically orange, pink, blue and green), and Riku was dreading what she found for him. Sora just pointed out that he would probably just be lounging around the house with Kairi that night in a not-penguin suit. Riku was trying to convince Kairi to make Sora wear an all pink tux for their prom.

Sora thought about how things would change after they graduated. Riku wasn't looking into universities, because he planned on going into the military like his father had. He explained that if he went, they would pay for his schooling afterwards. Wakka was riding a blitzball scholarship to DIU, Destiny Island University.

They were so creative on Destiny Islands. Nearly ever single business had something to do with Destiny, Island, or something along those lines. For instance, the high school was, surprise surprise, Destiny Island High. To be fair though, all populated islands had their own schools, each named after their specific island.

The teacher entered the room a few minutes after Sora did. The brunet looked around at the empty seat beside him as the bell rang, and a second later Roxas burst into the room. Their teacher didn't say a word, not really noticing as Roxas sat next to his brother silently. They had their first class together, Political Science. When choosing their classes, they had actually gotten advice from Mickey. He suggested that class because it would help them understand how politics work a little more and issues involved with it. Mickey admitted that the idea stemmed from the fact that they, by blood, were the Princes of Twilight's Destiny, and even though the world was broken up and they didn't need to rule, it might still be helpful. Neither of them had any particular love for the class, but it wasn't aggravating either. Sora thought about their other friends and what they were doing at the moment.

Naminé had found that, once she had her own heart, that she cared very much about the environment, almost as much as she loved art. It was funny how both of her loves seemed to be at opposite ends of the scales, but she now used only recycled paper, and paints, markers and things like that that wouldn't harm the environment a lot. She was actually in environmental science for her first period, a twelfth grade class, one that Riku had with her. He didn't particularly care about the environment, but he needed a science credit and it was the lesser of a billion evils.

Kairi's first class was also a senior one, but she had managed to weasel her way into it. It was child care. She admitted that she'd love to own a daycare, or be a kindergarten teacher, because of how much she loved children. She already claimed that she wanted a big family, hopefully starting in her early twenties. Considering Sora was already eighteen, and she was turning eighteen soon, it made him a bit nervous to think about, but as long as they were married and they could handle it, it didn't matter to him all that much.

For second period, Sora and Roxas separated to go to different classes. His was creative writing. He surprised people by being able to write fairly well, and remembering different things about grammar, spelling, styles of writing, different authors, poets and everything else like that. English was definitely his strong suit, and that was why he was in the senior writing class. The teacher himself had told Sora that he should try to take it. Roxas, on the other hand, didn't do extremely well or horribly bad in English, so his second period class was English. It wasn't an advanced class, it was the normal one, but he hated English anyway, so he thought it was amazing that he wasn't in a lower level class.

Kairi and Naminé both had art for their second period classes. Most people thought that Naminé should have been in a more advanced class, but the rule was that a person could only take one class that was originally for a grade higher than their own. She didn't mind though, because it just meant that she could have art the next year as well. Riku always walked with Naminé to the art room before continuing on his way towards the gym where he left everyone else in the dust. Literally, if they were doing track and field.

Sora's writing class wasn't too far from the art room, so he always stopped by there as the classes ended to steal a kiss from Kairi and to walk with Naminé to their gym class. Naminé hated it, but she was trying to get faster and to build up her endurance, knowing that she couldn't always rely on her powerful magic when fighting. She complained a lot, but at least Sora was there with her. It was better than being alone. Naminé was a shy girl to people she didn't know, so she didn't have many friends outside of their group. As such, she was glad that she had a friend in the class where she had to wear those short shorts and the tight t-shirt the school assigned. If someone stared at her too much, Sora was quick in telling them off.

Roxas was the only one of the four of them who opted not to take a grade twelve class. His strong suit was sciences, particularly chemistry, but he instead opted to take the advanced, grade eleven chemistry class. He said that it made more sense, plus it meant double the experimentation time if he took it that year and next year instead of just once. He was apparently a genius when it came to making things combustible, but he struggled a bit with a few other things. Sora swore that he could probably use play-doh and a potato and make it explode somehow.

Kairi too had an advanced science class when Roxas did, but hers was biology. Riku always joked that she just wanted to study the reproductive system to find out how to have a kid as soon as possible. Kairi always pointed out that she learned where there were several pressure points on the body so she could take him out without really doing anything. She was just good at the class, but she wasn't very fond of it, or any science for that matter. Sora once told her that she should be a doctor that works with small children, but she said that she couldn't. She'd get too attached to them and would be devastated if any died in her care. No, she was just in it for the advanced credit, nothing more.

Riku was stuck in a math class just before lunch, but he and Wakka rarely paid attention in that class. It wasn't their fault that the student teacher wore short skirts. If the principal didn't call her out on it and allowed her to wear them, then damnit, they were going to stare.

They all met up for lunch, including Selphie, Tidus, Wakka and whomever they happened to be dating at the time. Currently this meant some guy named Irvine was there (Kairi really didn't like him), a girl named Keiko (Tidus and her seemed to be in a pretty bumpy relationship lately though), Lulu and Aria.

Sora always walked Kairi to her next class, which was in the room right next to his. They had English at the same time, the only difference was that Sora's was the advanced class and hers wasn't. When he had found this out, he had originally intended up switching out so that they could be together, but she said that if he did he would never ever get any sort of physical affection again. Not even a kiss. Of course he doubted that, but he didn't push the point. Riku's classroom was actually just across the hall from Sora's, as he had grade twelve English after lunch. Given that they both sat right beside the doors, they often biffed notes to each other across the hall. Roxas and Naminé enjoyed after lunch because, while they both had math, they had it together.

Funnily enough, that was Sora's worst subject, and he had it right after that. In contrast, it was also one of his favorite classes, if only because it was the only one he and Kairi shared. Their teacher was the type who explained things once, gave them work and sat down, only getting up to answer questions. Sora and Kairi rarely did much work in the class, instead choosing to talk and flirt with each other until Kairi pointed out that they needed to get some work done. Roxas at that point of time had his history class (which the other three had taken first semester) while Naminé had her English class. Riku, like Roxas, had history but his was the twelfth grade class.

Finally their last class of the day came around. Sora needed a science for grade 11, so he chose biology based on the fact that he sucked at math so that ruled out a lot of physics and chemistry. Plus Kairi refused to let him fail anything, so she often tutored him. Not that he every complained.

Roxas and Kairi both had gym at the end of the day. Like Naminé, Kairi was glad that, if Sora couldn't be with her, Roxas was there. She and Sora tended to show more affection in public than Roxas and Naminé, and it seemed that was enough to cause some guys to hit on her more. It made little sense, but it happened. There were three guys in the class that just wouldn't leave her alone, and it had started to frighten her a bit. At one point of time, one of them even gave her a swat on her rear. Roxas had given him a black eye. Neither of them ever told Sora about the incident, but Kairi had to admit to the blond that, sometimes, they really did scare her. She was always afraid of some other guy trying to force himself on her.

Since it was Riku's last year of school, he didn't want to take just courses he needed. That was where is media class came in. There were two of these classes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon with two different teachers. The morning class actually did research, work and tests. His class watched movies, made some points on the movies and handed them in. It meant they actually had to watch the movie, but it was just that, watching a movie.

Naminé, as it turned out, was a horrible cook. She couldn't cook anything for the life of her. Roxas burned nearly everything, so if they ever wanted to stay together in the future, one of them had to be competent at making something. None of them dared trust Roxas near a stove, so she took a culinary class.

It was the same sort of thing day in and day out. That day though, come their second period class, Kairi and Naminé still weren't talking to each other, and the tension was almost tangible in the room. Sora could even tell that Naminé was still in a rotten mood during their gym class, and he had a feeling that they had another little spat during art. She stuck close to him, but she wasn't actually talking to him.

This wasn't the first time Kairi and Naminé had argued about their different point of views. Naminé, simply put, had always been the more timid side of Kairi when they were one person. She had been the one to tell Kairi to slow down when she and Sora started getting closer and closer. Still, Kairi hadn't listened to Naminé in the long run, and Sora supposed that it hurt the blonde a bit that the girl ignored her wishes entirely when they were in the same body. Roxas and Sora never had issues like that because they were more alike than their female counterparts were. In a way, Naminé probably blamed Sora for everything.

At lunch, Kairi wanted to go out to the diner just down the road, so after Sora had a quick shower after gym (they had been forced to run laps outside and it was extremely hot out that day), they walked down to the diner. It was filled with high school students, but that was expected. They still managed to get a table though, because Riku and Aria were there and offered for them to sit with them. Aria was probably the only one of Riku's girlfriends who had completely received Kairi's approval. The redhead was a romantic though, and hoped that Riku would come to his senses and date Midori. It was obvious the older girl liked him, even if she did date other men. She couldn't blame Aria for Riku's stupidity though.

The four of them sat in silence, but it wasn't an uncomfortable one. They were looking at the menus to decide what to eat. Because of how busy the small diner was with high school students, it was not only fairly cheap but it was fast as well.

"I guess I should get a salad," Kairi said finally. "Like that garden salad with light dressing."

Sora looked over at her oddly as she subtly glanced at Aria and back down to the menu. The girl was very skinny, especially compared to Kairi who had more curves, and it made her self conscious whenever the other girl and food were around. He nudged her and said, "If you think you're getting fat I'm going to shove ten hamburgers in you. You are not fat and you always eat healthy. You know you really want—" He looked over the menu and made a face at it (obviously seeing something that disgusted him) before reading off of it. "A grilled chicken sandwich with extra lettuce and no tomato on a toasted garlic bun…and you'll probably end up eating some of my fries."

Kairi bit her lip before mumbling, "That sounds delicious."

Aria giggled after their orders were taken and said, "Sora knows you pretty well I take it?"

Riku answered for her by saying, "You have no idea. It gets disgusting at times." The brunette rolled her eyes at her boyfriend before turning her attention back to Kairi and talking eagerly with her. They never really got to talk to one another.

"So," Riku mumbled to Sora while the girls were distracted. "You got her gift?"

"Yeah," Sora replied. "It's hidden in my room now. She's been pulling out nearly all the tricks to get it out of me. Kairi hates surprises."

"She probably just wants you to come up with something good. I mean, she got you an entirely new outfit that was more your style so that you didn't have to wear the one with the armour around. How she managed to get something so…you though, I'll never know."

Sora grinned and shrugged, his eyes turning to the food as it was placed on the table in front of him. He had ordered a burger, and dear god it looked good with it's cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, bacon, mayo, ketchup, mystery sauce, peppers and—

A pale hand entered his line of vision, swiping a pickle out of his burger. He looked around at his girlfriend who grinned a cheeky grin while munching on the stolen item.

"Eat your own food," he said while pointing at her sandwich. "Leave mine be. You're not fat, but I think eating two dinners at once might change that."

She glared at him and waited until he was drinking his Popse Cola (Riku always argued that Ceco Cola was better) before saying, "But you like when I eat your stuff." She grinned wickedly as he ended up spitting his drink out, noting with pride that some had even come out of his nose. It was gross, but she knew it stung and he definitely deserved it for saying she was going to get fat if she stole his food. Riku was roaring with laughter across from them, leaning over to give Kairi a high-five, and Aria looked like she wasn't sure if she should laugh or not.

Sora glared at her and said, "You can pay for your own food."

"Aww, don't be like that," Kairi said. Sora just grumbled and went back to viciously eating his burger. Riku spent the rest of their lunch replaying the scene in his head over and over again, causing him to randomly laugh at times, sparking a glare from Sora and laughter from Aria and Kairi.

Sora did end up paying for her food, but he sulked all the way back to school. Kairi rolled her eyes and said, "Stop being pouty."

"No."

A small smile appeared on her face. Sometimes, he seemed to almost revert back to a small child when he didn't get his way, and now was one of those times.

"Awww come on," she said while leaping onto his back, arms wrapping tightly around his neck. Sora let out a surprised sound as he stumbled, but he managed to grab her legs and steady himself. "Don't pout. I'll come over to your house and help you with your homework if you stop. Maybe do some snuggling?"

Sora laughed a bit and said, "You were coming anyway, even if I had to kidnap you. Yeah, sure, snuggling."

She gave him a light, quick slap on the head and said, "Only snuggling. Nothing else."

"Fine."

"You're pouting again, aren't you?" she asked as they finally reached the school.

"No."

Kairi laughed and slipped off of his back. She grinned warmly at him and said, "I'm sorry if I hurt your man-pride or whatever it is."

"You stole my pickles."

She laughed again and they made their way towards their classrooms. Of all things, he would be upset that she stole some of his food and nothing else.

Yeah, just an average day of school.

**VVVVVV**

If there was one thing Midori trumped all of her friends at (aside from being able to physically wrestle them into the ground), it was cooking. Apparently, her mother used to do it as a stress relief, and it was something that Midori carried on. Her classes were always done before the rest were finished school, so she always offered to make supper for them if she knew that Mrs. Yamada was out or that Riku's dad was gone.

She was showing Naminé a few tips and tricks while everyone else worked on their homework. She had a bit too, but part of it was for culinary so it was just like she was doing homework normally.

Midori looked around and saw that, despite her earlier beliefs, Roxas and Riku were working hard while Sora and Kairi had abandoned their books, instead sitting very close to each other whispering about something. Kairi was giggling and Sora had a huge smile on his face.

She rolled her brown eyes before looking back to the food. She saw Naminé looking at the two with disapproval and she said, "Leave it. It's their choice. Really though, I can't blame her. If I had a boyfriend like Sora, well, you know not like him, but someone who liked me as much as Sora likes Kairi, I'd be just like her."

"You must think I'm a prude then," Naminé said warily.

"No, not really," she answered with a shrug. "It's your decision and we respect it. They give you a hard time because you give them a hard time." Her head suddenly snapped around and she called out, "Where are you two going?"

"It's distracting listening to Roxas read out loud and Riku's snores," Sora said. He knocked the book out of Riku's arms, revealing that he had been asleep all along. "So we're going to study up in my room."

Midori rolled her eyes again and said, "Let me guess, biology?"

The two ignored her and went upstairs. She shook her head and said, "Oh how I wish this house was sound proof. Come on, please turn on your music." A second later, music started blaring out of Sora's room. She smiled and said, "We're all good! Just don't go into the living room and you won't hear anything."

Naminé bit her lip and asked, "She has been taking all her pills, right? I know she doesn't go through her mother to get them so I assume..."

"I get them for her, yeah," Midori answered. "She's been good. As far as I know, the only pregnancy scare she ever had was back when Jorix raped her." Midori spoke so calmly about it that it almost surprised Naminé. Then again, Midori half the time just seemed too calm and cool about everything, like nothing in the world could ever bother her. It was a little unnerving to be completely honest.

Naminé shook her head, realizing that Midori was talking about the food that they were making. She had to concentrate on that now, otherwise after she and Roxas decided to move in with each other (which she knew they would) someone needed to be able to cook. And by god he was not getting anywhere near a stove, microwave, barbeque, or a toaster. Actually he wasn't allowed near anything that created any sort of heat. Ever.

**VVVVVV**

Kairi laid on her side, the blue sheets of Sora's bed wrapped around her as she flipped through a photo album. She smiled softly as she looked through pictures of Sora and Riku when they were younger. She couldn't help but notice that there were a few empty spots here and there, and she wondered exactly what had happened to them. She knew that Sora hadn't touched the pictures in the front of the album, figuring that his mother had left them like that for a reason. She flipped a few more pages and giggled when she saw a picture of her younger self and Sora underneath the mistletoe. Sora's face was bright red and he looked adorable with his surprised, wide-eyed look, and his tiny Santa hat, as her younger self kissed his cheek. Her mother had told her that she didn't even hesitate to give Sora a kiss. After all, he was her hero. He was the one to find her along the coast of Destiny Islands. If he hadn't found her she probably would have drowned.

She flipped the page again and smiled sadly as she saw a picture of a much younger Sora with his mother. They had only had each other as family, and they had cared about each other a lot. His mother had been fairly strict and almost prim and proper at times, but Kairi knew why now, so it made sense. She had grown up as royalty, so even though she went on to live as a widow who didn't have a permanent job (but still did lots of charity work and everything), she was still a princess who hadn't been far from being a queen.

She let out a small surprised sound as she felt Sora's lips press against her neck as he slipped back into the bed beside her. He leaned onto her a bit, running his fingers over her spaghetti-strap tank top before resting them on the waistband of her pajama shorts. She always kept some of her clothes in Sora's room for the times that she was just too lazy to wander back to her house.

He kissed her shoulder before resting his chin there, his arm wrapping around her waist above the covers. Despite what their other friends thought, they had simply gone upstairs and turned on the music to block out the voices coming from downstairs before settling down for a nap together. It was actually something they did together quiet frequently, though they knew that their friends thought they did more than that. They weren't nearly as bad as others made them out to be.

"What are you doing?" he asked, and she glanced at him and saw a sad look in his eyes as he looked at the pictures.

"Just looking," she replied. "You must miss her. More than I even miss my adopted father."

Sora smiled sadly and said, "More than anything. I just keep picturing that night over and over in my head. Though I don't wonder why she died, instead of just disappearing like most people did. I know that. It was because she saved me and protected me. The Heartless saw her as a threat so they killed her. I just—I wish..."

She felt tears hit the bare skin of her shoulder and she rolled so that she was facing him instead leaving the book to the floor. She wrapped her arms around him, running her hand up and down his bare back soothingly, and said, "It's okay baby. Let it out."

"I just wish I could have said goodbye."

Kairi hugged him close to her, not saying as thing as he silently let tears fall. He had been holding in his despair about his mother for a long time now. He had held her, told her to get her tears out when she found out that her adopted father was dead, but never once had he taken the time to grieve for his own mother. Roxas even grieved more than he had.

She pressed gentle kisses to his forehead and said, "She knows how much you love her. She knows. But Sora? I'll be here for you no matter what. I'll never leave you. I love you." She felt him smile weakly against her neck, hugging her closer to him.

"What would I ever do without you?" he asked after a moment.

"Steal hearts as a little, tiny, almost harmless Heartless?" she suggested with a grin. "We'll stick together through everything though. I promise."

"I promise too," he replied. Sora pulled away from her slightly so that he could see her face. He smiled at her warmly and rested his forehead on her shoulder as she slowly lulled him to sleep.

She ran a hand through his hair before she let her eyes slip shut as well.

**VVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

This is probably as close as I'll get to a high school fic. The next two chapters are bursting at the seams with pure S/K goodness before all the major stuff starts happening. Well, I focus on romance a lot, but these next two chapters are basically just them. I'm going to reassure everyone again though that I will not be writing any lemons or anything like that. Though there definitely are references to it basically everywhere.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Dowski, herald of disaster, Trainalf, The 666th necrophiliac, Jad826, Twlight Cardmistress, Q-A the Authoress!

I don't really have much to say about this chapter. It is what it is. You see their lives, you see that there is still some emotional turmoil and various other things.

Comments, suggestions, questions, pointing out mistakes…anything…don't hesitate to drop a review!

Note the loserishness of my life: I only need 7 of the classic Disney movies before I have all of the classic animated movies. I only need 4 crappy sequels before I have all those too. I feel like I've accomplished something, but it does nothing for me. Oh well.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	4. From The Heart

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Three – From The Heart_

There were some small blessings in life, Kairi realized. One of them included having her eighteenth birthday on a Friday. Originally, the party was supposed to be a surprise for her, but that was one surprise she had managed to drag out of him early on. Selphie had been disgruntled at that, but she also had to admire Kairi's ability to get almost anything out of Sora. She tried some of the same tricks on her own boyfriend, but he still never told her anything. Then again, Selphie was also pretty sure he was cheating on her, but that wasn't the point.

Compared to Naminé, Kairi was much more easing going, but she wasn't really a party person. Really, none of their small group consisting of Keyblade Bearers was. Still, they would all attend if one of their friends were hosting the party, though it was agreed that at least one of them would stay sober. Naminé usually chose to based on the sheer fact that she couldn't hold alcohol at all, but the rest took turns.

Despite the fact that some people expected them to be partiers (probably because when one of their friends wanted to have a party, they used Sora's house), and none of them got drunk every weekend. Though Riku and Midori had snuck into a bar once before they were both legally allowed to go into one.

Kairi couldn't understand why people thought that she was a partier. She was actually pretty reclusive, sticking close to her friends while ignoring everyone else. A lot of people thought she was stuck up because she never spoke to anyone else, but she always just figured that everything else wasn't really her business and it would be rude to poke her nose into it.

So summarized, she was obviously one of the most horrible people for being 17, going to a party and drinking every once and a while, and having sex with her boyfriend. Forget the people who did drugs, slept with several different people, cheated, shoplifted, raped, got into fights, and all those other things. At least, that's what it felt like at times.

There was a knock at her door, startling Kairi out of her thoughts. She sat up, still in her tank top and pajama shorts, as Naminé walked in, already dressed in her uniform, her hair held up by a towel to dry. The blonde happily jumped onto her bed, a grin on her face as she said, "Happy birthday!"

"Thanks Nami," she replied with a giggle. "What did you get me?"

Naminé rolled her eyes and said, "Greedy little thing, you are. Of course I knew you were going to cajoled Sora into skipping classes with you, so I was going to do the nice thing by giving the teachers an excuse. Maybe even rush home to delete the message from the school on the phone. And here you are asking for presents." There was a pause before Naminé grinned and said, "Okay, I admit, I did get you something." For her part, Naminé wasn't nearly as uptight as people (Kairi included) made her out to be. She was very encouraging of all of her friends relationships, including Sora and Kairi's, she just tended to worry about them being careless.

Kairi watched as Naminé slid off the bed and reached underneath it, the towel falling off of her head in the process. Seeing the redhead's surprised look as she took a wrapped present out from under the bed, she shrugged and said, "My room is too neat. You would have found it. Your room, however, is a disaster area rivaling Sora's. While Roxas and I may kill each other with cooking, you and Sora are going to have to wear hazmat suits to survive when you live together." She once again sat on the bed opposite of her cousin and threw the present at her. "It's from Roxas too."

"You mean you chose it and he paid for it?"

"Something like that," the blonde admitted.

Kairi eagerly tore the wrappings off, tossing them every which way. Kairi grinned broadly when she saw the clothes that Naminé and Roxas had bought her. The black and white tube top, black skirt and pink shorts would match the pink boots that her mother had gotten her (she saw them in her mother's room when she had been snooping around), but there was a bit too much black for her liking.

"Oh!" Naminé said suddenly, as if realizing something. She jumped off of the bed, dove back under and reappeared with another present. "I completely forgot about this. It's from Midori. She was with Roxas and I when we got these."

Kairi opened that present a little slower and found two armbands that were yellow with solid white stripes in the middle. There was what looked like a long, flowing pink sleeve for her other arm, and a sort of dress-coat thing. It was the same dark pink as her boots, except for a few spots that were outlined in white and the part of it that was black. The only things she could tell that kept it on were the crisscrossing purple straps that went around her neck and across her back. It was a little strange, but then again, she had owned a dress that had three zippers on it.

"Thank you Nami," Kairi said, moving to give her cousin a hug. "I'm sorry I've been a right bitch lately."

"Me too," Naminé replied, hugging her cousin back before standing up. "So, you and Sora are going to have an awesome day today, and tonight is going to be insanely fun."

"You going to drink?"

"Oh god no," she said with a laugh. "Remember Riku's birthday? Not happening again. I am going to be enjoying all of you acting like complete idiots. If you and Sora decide to do anything though, please lock the door this time. I really don't need to walk into a room and see that again. Why do I seem to walk in on everyone?"

Kairi blushed heavily at the memory. Riku's birthday party back in March, she and Sora had slipped off somewhere. Naminé and Roxas walked in on them. It had certainly been a sobering moment. Especially since Naminé had been wasted (it had been Roxas' turn to stay sober) and had yelled to the world about what they were doing. Of course, that wasn't the most embarrassing thing that Naminé had done that night. Apparently she could be very talented with improve when she was intoxicated.

Kairi got out of her bed and quickly pushed by Naminé to go to the bathroom. She thought about what Naminé had said and got out her tangerine shampoo and conditioner and her vanilla shaving cream and body wash (Sora often joked that she smelled like a creamsicle at times, but she pointed out that he liked creamsicles). It was true, ever since the day she and Sora had talked about his mother, they had both been so busy with a sudden surge of school work that they didn't get the chance to do more than exchange a small kiss and hug when they saw each other. Kairi's mother had made her take part in different volunteer groups, for university she said, and she was busy helping different people in what would normally be her free time all week. She longed to just have a moment to sit with Sora at least, but would prefer to have more than a moment to kiss him without having to run off a second later.

She realized just how pathetic she sounded. It had been a week and a half and she felt like it had been months. Maybe Naminé was right and they did an intervention. They honestly weren't that bad, but it was still a little pathetic.

She shook her head and took her shower, making sure to remove every pesky little strand of hair that she didn't want on her, and scrubbing her hair and body thoroughly. This day was going to be perfect; there were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Of course, she had to make her mother think that she was going to school, but that wouldn't be a problem.

She dried her hair and stared at it, not sure of she wanted to leave it, straighten it or curl it. She had done her hair up in messy curls for her anniversary with Sora, and he had commented that he found that ridiculously sexy, but she wasn't sure if she wanted her hair like that right now. She settled on straightening it, figuring that she could change it before the party if she wanted to.

She put on her uniform before straightening out her make up. By the time she got downstairs, her mother had breakfast out on the table and was about to come upstairs to get her.

Suzu smiled warmly and said, "Happy birthday Kairi."

"Thanks mom," she said and hugged her tightly.

"I made your favorite. Strawberry pancakes!" the woman said happily and motioned for Kairi to sit down. Naminé, who was already at the table, grinned at her as they ate in silence for a few moments. Suzu cleared her throat as they finished eating and both girls looked at her. "Naminé, you can go and get your bags and everything ready? I'd like to talk to Kairi alone for a moment."

Naminé nodded, shooting Kairi an odd look before leaving. The two sat in silence before Suzu said, "Kairi, honey, you're a legal adult now, but I just—I feel like I've been avoiding telling you certain things. It feels like yesterday that you washed up on the shore without a clue to who you were. I just don't want you to do anything reckless now that you have more freedom. I know there are going to be things that seem tempting now, things that you should wait for but—"

"Wait," Kairi said, a doubtful look passing over her features. "Are you trying to give me some sort of birds and the bees talk?"

There was a pause before her mother shook her head and said, "It's not just that. I—okay, we'll play the honest card. I know about the parties you go to. I know about the one tonight. People talk. I know that you drink at them. Naminé sometimes too. I also know that you're…intimate with Sora."

Kairi had seen this coming. She folded her arms in front of her chest defensively and said, "So what?"

"Kairi, that's a huge step to take in a relationship. You're both just so young and you don't know what will happen."

"Sora's not going to leave me," the redhead said. She was desperately trying to keep herself calm, but she could feel her temper rising.

"I never said that. Your situation is different from a normal teenager, but still, there could be other people—"

"No," Kairi snapped, her anger rushing out. "No there won't. I love Sora and he loves me."

"That's what I'm worried about. You two have your whole lives ahead of you and you shouldn't have to feel like your obligated to stay together. You're all each other has known." Suzu snapped back, annoyance leaking through her voice. "Tell me Kairi, how many dates end up in sex? Would he still be with you if they didn't?"

"Of course he would and it's none of your business."

"You're my daughter, it is my business. Have you ever felt like you've been forced to have sex?"

Kairi's face had turned red from anger, but at those words she suddenly paled.

Her mother's face turned into one of anger and said, "He has forced you to do things then, hasn't he? Maybe we should get him over here too."

"No!" Kairi exploded at her, her mind reeling through a sudden rush of memories. "Sora hasn't forced me to do anything! Not once! He got rid of the person who forced me to—" She cut herself off, staring at her mother as tears welded up in her eyes. There was something about having this discussion with her mother that violently forced all of the memories to the front of her mind.

Suzu stared at her with surprise, not quite sure what to say at the sudden revelation. Kairi had never even hinted that she had been—but now that Suzu thought about it, the young woman hadn't seemed comfortable dealing with any sort of new male figure. At least not one bigger than her.

Kairi suddenly let out a sob and turned on her heel, rushing by Naminé and back up the stairs, the blonde not saying a word. Naminé looked at Suzu with unreadable eyes, and the woman knew that Naminé wasn't surprised about the revelation. In fact, the blonde seemed to be standing on the staircase, blocking the path to her cousin as she judged the woman before her silently. Naminé had this way to make a person feel like they were under scrutiny. Finally, she moved by her.

"I'll send Sora up when he and Roxas get here. If she gets upset over this, he's usually the only one she'll listen to."

Suzu looked up the stairs. It was such a sudden revelation that it hadn't really settled in her mind. Sora had gotten rid of the person that forced himself on her. Someone had forced the girl that she considered a daughter to do things that she didn't want to do.

Anger flared through her suddenly and she walked up the stairs.

**VVVVVV**

Tears streaked down Kairi's cheeks as she held her pillow close to her. She couldn't help but be affected when the topic of what had happened to her sprang up without her being prepared. She could feel the memories rushing through her. She remembered being hold down by rough stone that had scraped her skin. She remembered fighting back as much as she could, even if it was disgusting that she had bit off a piece of his ear. She vaguely remembered him slamming his fist into her face, breaking her noise, but that memory was eclipsed by the pain of his smooth, polished knife, slicing into her skin. He had made intricate patterns in her skin, and had he carved his initials in her flesh. She shuddered as she remember the pain that came with the first time that he had used her, and how she had made her throat raw with cries of pain and begging him to stop. Then everything just went numb, her mind blissfully shielding her from the horror of what was happening to her.

Then she remembered Sora and how his very presence had been so warm and soothing. She remembered seeing him, no, a dark version of him, tear the real monster off of her. She had always known what had happened, but she knew that Sora wasn't necessarily proud of exactly what he had done. She also knew that it wasn't really him though, and his heart was connected to so many people that it was impossible to see where the burst of darkness had truly come from. Still, even the dark version of Sora had seemed like an angel at the time, and that was nothing compared to when he turned back to normal. She had instantly known that she was safe the second he showed up, even when Anti-Form had been on the prowl. When she had woken up without him there in Christmas Town, she had panicked.

She hadn't blamed him at all. Sora had tried to help her; he had tried to save her. Getting caught and subdued so easily had been her fault, but outside of that, it was that monster's fault. That revelation had been one of her greatest achievements to getting over what had happened.

There was a knock on the door, breaking Kairi out of her disturbing memories. Her mother walked in and sat down on her bed, running her hand through her hair and said, "You should have told me Kairi. I never—do you need anything? When did this happen? Do you need any medication? A therapist? I wish I had known. Who was it?"

Kairi took a deep breath and said, "It happened when we were jumping between worlds. Sora and I used to use the most dangerous way to travel but it was all we could do." Kairi paused for a moment. "He ambushed us. He broke Sora's leg and he said that if I didn't put my Keyblade away he'd kill him. He had powers and—there was a boulder over Sora's head and he already broke his leg so I didn't fight back. Then he took me somewhere else and I ran but he caught me and Naminé went to try to find Sora and then he—" Kairi sobbed.

"Oh Kairi," her mother wrapped her arms around her and rocked her. "You should have told me."

"I managed to bite off part of his ear," Kairi said weakly, and her mother chuckled a bit.

"Good for you. What happened to him? I swear, I'll find a way to leave this world and then I'll—"

"Sora killed him," Kairi interrupted bluntly. "He managed to find me and he killed him. Then he took care of me even when I was so scared because I didn't want anything near me but then there was Sora and he was just so supportive and patient and—it was my first time."

Suzu rocked her back and fourth as she cried before saying, "It's okay honey. That is nothing for you to be ashamed of. You did nothing wrong. That bastard did. I'm glad Sora got rid of him. I hope he made it hurt. Too bad he didn't drag him back here. Then I could have introduced my hedge clippers to him. First cutting off his apparently most important appendage before shoving them in a place he wouldn't want them."

Kairi chuckled weakly at this before mumbling, "I want Sora."

"He'll be here soon sweetie. Naminé's waiting for him." No sooner had the words escaped her lips, she heard loud footsteps rushing up the stairs. Kairi's door flew open and Sora appeared, looking worried and like he had run the distance from his house. He had done just that, feeling Kairi's extreme distress, but she didn't need to know that.

Sora ignored Suzu and immediately went to Kairi, who whispered his name and slid into his lap easily, pressing her face to his neck as he hugged her close.

Suzu couldn't help but smile a bit. She could see it, and she knew that Kairi wasn't just lost in a teenage fantasy brought on by silly dreams and hormones when she said that they loved each other. She caught Sora's attention, and he looked up at her curiously.

"You two stay home from school. Don't worry about getting in trouble. I'll handle it. Okay?"

Sora nodded his head and turned his attention back to Kairi. The older woman watched or a moment as he whispered something to her before walking out of the room and closing the door behind her.

**VVVVVV**

"I'm hungry," Kairi muttered as she curled up at Sora's side on her bed, fiddling with the school shirt that was haphazardly done up from his mad rush to get to her place earlier.

"Me too," Sora admitted as he ran his hand up and down her arm. "Naps will do that to ya though. I did have something planned for after school, but I guess I can splurge a little more money if you wanted to get something else to eat. Or I could make you something. I've been working on it and I kinda have mad skills."

Kairi giggled and said, "Well, we do have to go to your house so you can change from your uniform. I'd love to see these mad skills. You're not messing up my kitchen though." She moved up, pressing her lips to the soft skin of his neck teasingly.

Sora chuckled a bit and said, "Well, lets go."

"Are you crazy, I need to get ready again. My makeup is smeared. I need my nice new clothes! And no, I will not go out like this just because you think I'm pretty. You're biased." She got up as she was speaking, and Sora chuckled as he knelt on the bed, placing his hands on her hips as he pulled her down to him, pressing his lips to her own.

Kairi hummed happily before pulling away and saying, "If we want to go anywhere, you need to let go."

"I'm happy to stay here with you all day."

She kissed him again quickly. "I'd rather do something else now, but after the party. Hmm, who knows?" She gave him a teasing wink, followed by a painful noogie.

"You sure? I mean after—well, you know…"

"You make all the bad memories go away," she said, a warm smile on her face before she turned to her dresser to pick up the new clothes that Naminé, Roxas, Midori had given her. She cast a glance over her shoulder, smirking slightly before going to fix hair and makeup.

**VVVVVV**

"You know, I never said it earlier, but happy birthday."

Kairi looked up at Sora as they walked through the small town on their island, beaming happily and saying, "Thank you." She gave him an expectant look.

"What? Is it your clothes? You look hot baby, I told you that already."

"Sora," she whined. "It's my birthday." She pouted, knowing that he was weak against her pout.

"I don't have your present with me," he said, leaning his forehead against hers. "I didn't want it to get ruined."

"We were just at your house though," she pointed out, her mind thinking back to his 'mad cooking skills'. He had made a mess, but the macaroni and cheese had turned out to be pretty good. They had left the mess for Midori to clean.

"I know, but you can have it later. Wouldn't you rather spend the day with me? Or get a present?"

She paused thoughtfully and in a serious voice said, "Present."

Sora sighed dramatically and took his arm from around her and said, "Fine. We'll go back and you can have your present and then you can go home."

"Sora."

He laughed and took her hand into his own and said, "Good thing that you're beautiful. I just can't stay mad at you."

Kairi giggled and asked, "What are we doing?"

Sora laughed and said, "I was thinking that we could go spend some time at the beach. Just you and me? And then supper at a nice place? Well, not super fancy, your clothes are fine, but some place you've never been?"

"I guess..." she trailed off. She was a little disappointed to be honest. She and Sora always went to the beach and had dinner together. It was pretty much their Saturday night.

"Did I mention that we're going to the beach on the secluded Mystery Island and going to dinner on Future Island?" Sora said, as if reading her mind. "I rented a boat to go out and everything."

Kairi had never gone to any of the other islands before. Any time she was supposed to take a trip over she had been sick or hurt or something along those lines. Automatically, the thought of going somewhere new excited her. She grinned broadly and hugged him tightly.

He laughed once again while saying, "So Princess, do you need anything before we leave? I already have sunscreen since you burn like there's no tomorrow. I have blankets, towels, bottles of water, bathing suits if we need them—"

"How did you get my bathing suit and which one did you take?"

"When you were getting ready earlier, and my favorite one," he explained.

Kairi seemed to think about this for a moment before saying, "But your favorite one is too small for me now."

Raising an eyebrow he said, "Well yeah, that's why it's my favorite. Ow!" He rubbed his arm where she smacked it.

"Do you have any band-aids and polysporn? I used all mine," she chose to change the topic.

"No, why would we need that?"

She gave her rather accent prone boyfriend a dry look before going back into her house. She wasn't about to remind him that he usually ended up injuring himself in one way or another.

VVVVVVVVVV

It was only on the way to Mystery Island that Kairi remembered all the legends and stories about it. Rumor had it that anyone who had gone onto the island vanished and never returned. Sora had pointed out that that wasn't true. The real story was that anyone who went into the jungle itself never came back. It wasn't surprising really because the jungle was so thick and dense that anyone probably got lost or ran into some time of poisonous plant or carnivorous animal.

The beach itself was clean and relatively untouched. They weren't the first ones to go over to that island, but they were the only ones at the spot they landed on. Kairi had been a bit curious, going to the edge of the trees and looking at a few plants that weren't located on their island.

"These are Lilythorn plants, said to be one powerful, natural aphrodisiac," Kairi said after a few minutes, carefully picking off pieces of the plant. "Dunno why they're called that though. They're not lilies and they don't have thorns."

"An afro-lama-hama?" Sora asked, trying to wrack his memory.

Kairi rolled her eyes and said, "Aphrodisiac. Supposed to boost your sex drive or something like that." Looking around, she came to a realization. "It looks like they're picked pretty frequently here. I can't say I'm surprised though. They're supposed to be powerful. Some people probably use them for drugs, not even knowing what they are. Did you know that a paopu fruit is one too?"

"What? Seriously?"

"Yup, only a light one though," she admitted. "Think about it though. We're always told not to touch the paopu's because it 'binds our destiny's' and things like that. That's why people are only supposed to eat them on their wedding nights. Of course, everyone learns about that sooner or later. I'm surprised you didn't know."

"Wow, I never thought about it, but it makes sense."

"I know. I mean, how many times have we been all over each other after eating them. Most aphrodisiacs don't actually work, but the paopu fruit and lilythron plants are pretty much proven to work."

Sora blushed lightly while grinning and said, "So, wanna try this one out?"

"This one is supposed to be powerful. They can be really dangerous," Kairi replied. "Besides, best case scenario, they work exactly like they're supposed to. No offense, but I'd rather go to my party tonight at least for a little bit before running off with you."

He laughed and said, "Fair enough. Keep them for later." He winked at her and she rolled her eyes at him. Still, she picked a few and put them into a plastic bag, feeling like an up and coming druggie just doing that, before putting it into her large bag that Sora had somehow managed to smuggle out of her room without her noticing. She assumed it was his magical pants (actually, the pouches, but magical pants sounded better) that did it.

She stayed on the beach for the most part, only wandering into the water after Sora assured her that the place they were going to eat wasn't over the top fancy or anything.

Some people would expect that an 18-year-old would be all over his girlfriend when she was wearing only a small bikini that looked more like just a bunch of triangles held together with string, but he wasn't. He stared, that much was a given, but rarely ever did he make any type of move on her when they were at the beach, something that perplexed all of their friends. It led to many discussions between Tidus, Wakka and Riku about Sora's mental health.

To be fair, Sora had a few bipolar tendencies, though he wasn't actually bipolar. His moods could shift quickly, but there was usually a good reason for it. There were times when he was a stereotypical teenage boy with his girlfriend and all he could think about was pulling her away somewhere. Other times, he was the sweet, polite boyfriend that the other guys poked fun at, but there was something about the beach that brought out his inner child. He turned into an oversized version of his younger self with a big grin and almost childish wonder at everything. Kairi positively adored this aspect of him, because she thought it was good for everyone to let their inner child out every once and a while. She said that it was just part of his charm.

Kairi watched him as he stalked a crab along the water with a stick in hand, dressed in only his navy swimming trunks, knowing that it could only turn out bad one way or another. She stared at him, blushing and giggling a bit as she thought about another side of his personality. She would never, ever admit it to anyone, but she actually had a "little bit" of a weakness for the whole serious, knight in shining armour thing he had going at time. And by a little bit, she actually meant that she was malleable putty in his hands. She found it embarrassing that, while she always said that liked being strong and able to fight for herself, the sappy, romantic side of her incredibly enjoyed the whole knight-in-shining-armour fantasy.

A yelp of pain distracted her from her daydreams of Sora, causing her to look at the real Sora. The crab didn't get him, but apparently he stepped on a sharp rock. She rolled her eyes and found the one band-aid that she managed to find in her bag to put on his foot.

Sora was a stubborn child though. Instead of avoiding the salty water, he used the fact that she came close to the ocean waves to his advantage.

She let out a surprised scream as he suddenly pulled her into the water. He was quick enough to drag her in while they were still standing, knowing that if he got her hair wet at this point of time, she's probably skin him alive.

Kairi glared at him and said, "You suck."

"Come on, you can't come to the beach and stay on the sand all day. You don't tan."

"I do too."

"Kairi," he said seriously, "you burn, and when your burns fade, they turn dark white. We've gone over this a thousand times before."

"Stupid you and your stupid tans," she muttered, poking him in the chest. Sora's skin was naturally darker than her own, but during the warmest days of spring and summer, he got an even darker tan without even trying.

Kairi stared at her skin, contrasting strongly against his. It fascinated her at times, how they were so different, but so much a like at the same time. At first, it bothered her that she was so naturally pale compared to most of the people on Destiny Islands, but she got used to it for the most part.

She did end up staying in the water with him, but because she begged him not to get the salty ocean water in her hair, they couldn't really do much. In the end, they just ended up sitting together in the shallow waves, sometimes talking about random things, sometimes just staring out at the horizon in peaceful silence.

"Sora," she muttered, almost unwilling to break the silence as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Hmmm?" was the only reply she got. His eyes were closed, and his chin rested on her shoulder as he held her from behind.

"I'm starved. Think we could go and get something to eat now?" To prove her point, her stomach rumbled loud enough for Sora to hear and strong enough for him to feel.

His eyes opened and a huge, teasing grin appeared on his face. If Kairi wasn't so used to his sense of humour, she might have been embarrassed, but there were few things that embarrassed her when it came to Sora anymore. Well, aside from the whole fantasy thing.

"I guess," Sora said, making it sound like getting food was a big deal. "Of course, we could always just find a bunch of paopu fruits. They grow here too. One is lots of fun, imagine how much more it would be with even more of those afro-deal-ey things?"

Kairi gently elbowed him in the gut, but he made a dramatic show of her hurting him. She stood up and stared down at him with her hands on her hips, and he stopped his whining, grinning at her happily.

"What?" she asked suspiciously.

"Nothing." She instantly knew he was lying. "You should just, you know, brush the sand off of the back of your neck or something."

"What sa—" She moved her hand back and when she touched the strings of her bikini, they started to let go. She let out a squaking sound that Sora would later swear sounded identical to the weird bird that woke him up most mornings, and grabbed the strings quickly, tying them tightly again. She glared at him and said, "You just wanted me to hit it so my bikini would come loose, didn't you?"

"Why would I ever come up with a scheme like that?"

"Because you are, in fact, male," Kairi said dryly as they started to walk towards their bags. "And right now, you think with your second brain more than your first."

"You think I'm smart enough to have two brains?" he asked happily. He stopped walking a second later, the look appearing on his face that he usually got when someone said something stupid.

The same look appeared on Kairi's face as she said, "Do I need to say it?"

"I am a dumbass," he said while shaking his head.

They got changed back into their normal clothes just within the edge of the trees. They faced away from each other, because though neither of them were the least bit embarrassed to change in front of the other, they still respected each other not to look all the time.

Kairi liked the fact that Sora knew how to drive a motorboat. Most people on Destiny Islands did by the time they were sixteen, since having a boat was much more common and useful than having a car (with Future Island as the exception), but Kairi always found that Sora was able to handle one with extreme ease. It was something she noticed after he returned from his adventures though, so learning how to fly the gummi ship probably helped. Just like knowing how to drive a motorboat probably helped him learn how to fly the gummi ship. Midori sometimes used his mother's car, but for the most part, it just sat there unless it was needed.

Sora was a bit of a speeder when it came to boats. Actually, he was a speeder when it came to any type of vehicle. Sometimes he didn't even realize how fast he was going. That day though, he was keeping the speed in check, if only for her. Kairi was usually pretty easy going when it came to things like her hair, but it was her birthday and she wanted to look more than just nice that day, so she really didn't want him to mess up her hair and makeup too much. He thought she was a little strange, but he respected her wish anyway.

Future Island was fascinating. The tallest buildings on Destiny Island were probably the school, theatre and mall, but on this island everything seemed to stretch up to the sky. Future Island wasn't visible from the side of Destiny Island that she and Sora lived on, blocked from view and mind by the hills and the mountains on the main island.

There were people, cars, and lights everywhere. Kairi tried not to stare, but she just couldn't help it. While she loved her home, this place certainly had its charm too.

She made note of where the pharmacy was as they walked by it, just in case. Knowing Sora, he would stab himself with a fork or something. She never understood how someone who was almost graceful with a weapon could be such a klutz during an average day.

Sora led her to a dimly lit restaurant, lit with thin, neon lights in curved patterns everywhere. It wasn't a fancy place like he said, but people could probably use it as a place for more upscale occasions, if they wanted.

He rushed off to use the washroom once they were seated, and while she waited for him to come back, staring at her menu, she heard someone say, "Well, how can I help _you_ today?"

She sighed a bit, recognizing the tone of voice that the waiter was using, and looked up to tell him that she was there with her boyfriend. Instead, Kairi just stared at him with wide eyes, her skin going paler than normal. His face was completely different, but the shade of his hair was exactly like Jorix's. The name on his nametag even said Jordan. It didn't help that he was looking at her like he wanted to accost her right then and there.

"Iri?"

She looked around, relief on her face as Sora appeared. He took one look at her and knew that something was wrong; quickly figuring out what it was when he saw the waiter.

He scowled at the boy and snapped, "Leave my girlfriend alone." The boy, who was slightly younger than them, looked surprised before quickly leaving.

Sora sat with Kairi in the booth, hugging her and whispering comforting words in her ear. She hugged him back and asked, "When will the memories completely go away? I rarely ever think about it, then sometimes something just…triggers them."

"When I'm strong enough to erase him from those too."

She smiled warmly and said, "Just being here with me helps any sort of memories of that go away."

Sora didn't say anything else, he just settled for hugging her.

Luckily, they ended up getting another waiter, this time a rather confused, but nice, young woman. Once they finished eating, Kairi looked at the time and decided that they had been out a little too long and headed back to their island. Once they returned the boat, Kairi led the way, and Sora wistfully followed her along, holding her hand and staring off into space. He only broke out of his happy thoughts when he realized that they weren't going to her house, they were going to his.

"Ummm, Iri? The party doesn't start for a while and I thought you wanted to get changed?"

She gave him an odd look and said, "Of course I do. We're going to get you some other clothes."

"Why would I want other clothes?" Sora asked, staring down at his red and white t-shirt and black shorts with confusion. They looked fine to him. The horrified look that appeared on her face made him realize that, while they might have been fine to wander around in, even in public, wearing them to her birthday party was obviously not fine.

Her expression changed swiftly as she let her eyes get slightly wider, appearing just a bit more watery than normal. She pouted a bit and said, "It's by birthday party. My boyfriend has to look just as good as I have to. It's, like, the rules of feminism. You'll wear some clothes I pick out, won't you Sora?"

There were times he really hated her pout and her big, watery, indigo eyes. It wasn't even her expression to begin with! It was his pout that he had developed as a child, continued to use and that she had stolen from him! Still, he had to admit that her version of it was much more effective. The groan that escaped his lips caused her to smile and she knew that she had won.

They went to Sora's house first, and she dragged him up to his room without stopping to look at any of the decorations that were being put up. She made her way around his room quickly, grabbing a bag from seemingly nowhere and throwing a bunch of things inside of it.

"What are you doing?"

They looked around and saw an amused Midori leaning against the door, staring at them. Kairi straightened up and said, "Picking some clothes out for Sora to wear. He can get changed at my house while I'm having a shower, that way we don't waste too much time here."

Midori laughed and said, "Aww Sora, does Kairi keep you on a short leash? You are so whipped."

"Hey," Kairi said before Sora could get a word out, "leave him alone, Midi. Trust me, he wears the pants in this relationship."

Sora smirked at bit at the raven-haired woman.

"But I pick them out," Kairi added with a grin and a wink. Sora's smirk vanished at he stared at her with a pout as she and Midori both laughed.

"Fine, I'm staying here and I'm staying dressed like this. Maybe I'll put something worse on. Plus no present," Sora said as he turned away from them and jumped onto his bed, burying his face in his pillow with a dramatic sigh.

Midori rolled her eyes and Kairi laughed, jumping onto the bed beside him. She leaned close to his ear and whispered, "If you want to get any tonight, you'll come back to my house with me, and get changed. If not, I may just have to find some other way to waste some time tonight." It was best to be blunt with him when anyone wanted to get him moving quickly.

Sora looked over at her and, in a bemused voice, said, "You wouldn't cheat on me."

"You're right, I wouldn't," she agreed, "but I never said anything about cheating, now did I? Just think about all the other different things I could do."

There was a pause before Sora said, "I hate you."

She laughed and replied, "Love you too. Now get up and you might get a preview when I'm changing."

Needless to say, he got off of the bed pretty quickly.

**VVVVVV**

Kairi had thrown Sora's clothes on her bed and instructed him to choose some to wear, but she would be the judge of if they would pass or not. He could have just grabbed the black t-shirt with the black and white vest and a pair of jeans (he was sure she would approve, though he didn't really see a reason to change out of what he was wearing), but he decided to be difficult instead. Instead, he put on a vibrantly coloured polo shirt that he had never worn before (his mother had bought it for him a long time ago and Kairi grabbed it accidentally), so it was a little small, and his jeans. He then popped up the collar and dug around the room. Once he found what he was looking for, he put them on and sat back on her bed waiting for her.

She came into her room a few minutes later, and he couldn't help but love the fact that she was so comfortable around him that she'd wander in wearing only a towel, her hair held up in a second towel. He also loved the fact that her massive towels were obviously all dirty, because this was a smaller towel that showed off a fair amount of leg.

Kairi took one look at him, snorted, and said, "You look like a total douche. Those are the only people who wear tighter than normal polo shirts with popped collars and aviators. Douches. You had better be changing."

He pouted at her and said, "But I like this." It was a lie, but he loved to tease her.

She rolled her eyes and walked over, tugging the sunglasses off his face and tossing them over her shoulder. She then threw the t-shirt and vest that he had picked out earlier and said, "Wear those." She then wandered over to her dresser, looking in the small mirror as he switched shirts like she asked. A small grin appeared on her face as she grabbed something out of her dresser and threw it at him. "Hold those for me."

Sora caught the small orange garments and his eyebrows raised as he asked, "Are these even considered underwear? There's nothing here!"

"Hmm?" she hummed, pretending to be confused as she turned to face him. "Oh! No, no. Those are the wrong ones. See, with my dress I need to wear the right pair or someone will see them. Those ones are too big." She grinned victoriously as his wide eyes and happily grabbed the rest of her clothes and skipping out of the room, leaving Sora to fantasize. She knew exactly how to turn him into basically her own little puppet, which was why she would never let him find out about the whole knight-thing. He would definitely use it to his advantage, if only as revenge.

When she came back, she was wearing her housecoat with her makeup finished, but then she shooed him out of her room and told him to wait downstairs.

While he was down in the living room drinking his glass of water, Kairi's mother came home. She sighed as she tossed her purse onto the couch, but smiled at him and said, "Hello Sora. Have a good day?"

"Yeah," he said with a nod. "I made Kairi lunch at my house, then I took her to the beach and out to dinner."

She nodded her head and said, "Yes, well, I need to go to my sister's house tonight, something about her husband cheating or something like that, so I won't be home tonight. I know that there will be alcohol at her party, don't look so surprised, people talk. I'm not going to do anything about it, just promise to take care of her? I trust you enough to let her go to a party like this, but please don't let her touch any drugs or get hurt."

"I promise," Sora answered. "Nothing will happen to her."

"Sora I—mom, you're home early," Kairi said as she walked into the room. She was wearing a dark blue sweater over a black skirt that went just above her knee. Her clothes weren't extravagant, but she had curled her hair, and with her makeup that was a little more done up than normal, he had to say that she looked incredibly hot.

Her mother gave her a quick once over, and Sora saw the approval on her face before she said, "I'm going to your aunt's house for the night. A girl's night out. Have fun sweetie."

"Okay, tell Aunt Aiko that I say hi. Come on Sora, we don't wanna be late."

"It's your party, you can't actually be late-late. Just fashionable late."

Suzu rolled her eyes and shook her head as the door closed behind them.

**VVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Hmmm…I've been in a huge rut lately. I just don't feel like writing, or reading, anything lately. I need inspiration, but while where I go to university is all warm and sunny right now, here at home there is still snow in spots and it's been freezing, dull, and boring. Not good writing conditions. Not even my Disney movies are helping. I just want REAL summer here ASAP.

Anyway…

The idea that only one small thing can trigger a very bad memory, and even in the most extreme cases, cause a setback in someone's psychological development after something such as PTSD isn't that far-fetched. It actually can happen.

Trying to figure out a place to work in a conversation between Kairi and her mother was difficult. It needed to be done though, even if there was a huge time gap between Shadows of a Dream and this one. I thought it was important to address the issue.

Thank you times one thousand to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter. I appreciate it! Hope the few people who happened to get my slightly drunk review replies enjoyed that. I'm still a pretty competent writer and thinker when I drink, I just tend to spell things wrong and ramble, most people can't actually tell.

Dear under-aged readers: Don't drink and do stupid things. I'm legally allowed!

Anyway, the following readers get mental cookies of thanks: Trainalf, The 666th necrophiliac, Jad826, Shire Folk, shadowwolf547, Shifuni, and 16afoster.

Any comments, suggestions, questions, criticisms, just leave a review!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	5. Teenage Dream

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Four – Teenage Dream_

They were heading towards Sora's place when Kairi suddenly stopped a few streets away from her house. She looked around and went behind a tree. A confused look appeared on Sora's face and he was about to follow her but she said, "Stay there to make sure no one comes."

"Okay? What are you doing?"

"You'll see."

Sora waited rather impatiently, and even though he was waiting for a minute it felt like an hour. When he heard her clear her throat he turned around and said, "About ti—" He cut himself off as he stared at her. She had unzipped her sweater and fixed her dress, which she had pulled down it make it look more appropriate for her mother. It was a simple, strapless black dress that was a little bit on the short side, but honestly, Sora could care less. The dress that she wore in Halloween Town was much more revealing and inappropriate in comparison. With it, she wore two necklaces: the one she had nearly all her life with a tear-drop pearl at the end, and the silver one with a heart that Sora had given her a while ago; her mismatched bracelets, and an old, worn pair of black flip-flops. It wasn't anything overdone or spectacular, but with her hair in messy curls, and her makeup done perfectly, Sora was pretty sure he'd have to act a tiny bit jealous and possessive if he wanted to keep every other guy from hitting on her.

"Like what ya see?" she asked him as she walked passed him.

"Ummm…yes?" he replied, his voice stating that he thought that fact should be obvious. "I mean, if it was just you and me, I'd be cool if it was gone, but you know…public appearances."

She laughed at him and said, "Oh yes, public appearances are very important. That's why you have to wait to see what's underneath." She winked at him, and looped her arm through his, forcing him to walk towards his house.

"Why would you even say that? You're a horrible person!" Sora protested.

She smiled at him with her mischievous grin, but said nothing else as they kept walking back to his place.

**VVVVVV**

It was widely decided that the Hikari house was the best place to have parties. It was far enough back from the main road and other houses that they weren't disturbing others, but it was close enough for people to still walk home or for someone to run and get help should it be needed. It was a secluded house with a vast amount of trees around it, and though there was a staircase going down the hill to the beach, it was always blocked off whenever they had parties so no one would wander to the water.

The house wasn't big, but that was fine for all the rambunctious teenagers. It was secluded enough so that they could also stay outside, the more daring ones wandering off with their boyfriend, girlfriend or a random hookup in the trees. They provided a little privacy, not a huge amount, but to many drunken teenagers with hormones raging and poor decision making skills, it was enough.

A few daring people went into the rooms upstairs, but usually the rooms were locked so no one could go in except for the people they belonged to. This worked out fine for Midori, Riku, Roxas and Naminé, because if Sora and Kairi got a little out of hand, they'd definitely have a place to send them to get them out of the way. If some people thought they were comfortable with displaying affection publicly when they were sober (because hugging and kissing was apparently scandalous on Destiny Islands), it was nothing compared to when they had a few drinks in them.

Before, a few guys tried to see if this was just something she would do with Sora, or if her mind was muddled enough for one of them to convince her to go with them. One guy actually tried to guide her away once. She ended up breaking his arm. She felt bad about it when she was sober, but, at the same time, she had maintained that he deserved it.

Riku pointed out that Sora would have done worse so he should be happy with a broken arm.

Admittedly, none of them partied very much, especially not compared to some of their other friends, but when they did, they just embraced it.

Sora and Kairi had arrived at the party a little bit later than they expected, so there was already a fair amount of drunken teenagers there drinking, eating and dancing. Already, the smell of alcohol and drugs was in the air, because no matter how many times they said that they didn't want drugs in the house, they always came in anyway. It caused a hotbox effect and Kairi was already feeling a little happier than normal as Sora led her to where there friends were.

People that they passed wished her a happy birthday before going back to their activities. Most of the people there didn't care that it was her birthday, all they cared about was that it was a party.

**VVVVVV**

As soon as Sora and Kairi arrived, Riku's eyes visibly, and slowly, slid up and down Kairi's figure. He didn't try to hide the fact that he was checking her out at all.

"Hey, eyes off," Sora said while wrapping his arms around her waist.

"What can I say man? Kairi is hot as hell. I'm not even going to lie, if you weren't dating her I'd totally hit that over and over again." He had accepted long ago that Sora and Kairi were stuck to each other like glue, and his feelings for her had definitely faded away. Riku knew how to separate love from lust though. While he loved Kairi, he wasn't in love with her, and he knew that.

Riku was only a man though, and he noticed the fact that she wore tighter shirts and short skirts over her hourglass figure. She thought of him as a brother, so she always wore her bikinis and short skirts around him without another thought. It gave him plenty of room to fantasize. He couldn't help but be jealous that Sora got to touch her intimately on a regular basis.

Sora glared at him but Kairi just tugged at his shirt and said, "It's okay baby. He can look, he's just not allowed to touch. Only you're allowed to do that." This seemed to instantly make Sora calm, or maybe it was the fact that Tidus had stumbled over, passing each of them a drink as he sat down on the table. The younger boy had been one of the first ones to start drinking that night and was already out of it.

"Damn Kairi," Tidus said and wolf-whistled. "You look like a sl—"

"Finish that and you won't have a nose," Sora warned him.

"Slick gal?"

"Nice save," Roxas said sarcastically as he shoved the younger boy off of the table and took his place. He wasn't drunk yet, he just wanted to sit on the table. Naminé followed him, choosing to stay completely sober, as had Riku.

"Kairi!" Selphie practically screamed as she appeared out of the crowd. She hugged her friend tightly and said, "Come one, lets leave the guys alone for a bit before you get too drunk and try to drag Sora somewhere. You too Nami, Midi." The three girls had no choice but to follow the eccentrically excited Selphie away.

"So now that the ladies are gone," Wakka said while shoving Roxas off of the table, taking his place exactly like Roxas had done to Tidus. "Why don't we make things more interesting?"

"How?" Sora asked warily.

"See who can chug the most. Loser has to give details about his girl."

There was a pause before Riku said, "You guys might as well. I'll judge."

"But that makes you the loser cause you won't drink any," Tidus drunkenly pointed out.

Riku shrugged and said, "I'll share details about Aria. I don't care."

"Sora, Roxas, ya guys in? Or are you two both whipped too much?" Wakka challenged.

"Bring it," they said at the exact same time and the tall glasses of golden liquid were passed around. Yes, it was certainly going to be an interesting night.

**VVVVVV**

"…And then I saw him with that other girl and I decided, eff that I'm not dealing with him anymore!" Selphie exclaimed, throwing her arms out dramatically.

"Are you okay though?" Kairi asked worriedly, gripping tightly to the glass in her hand, the dark red liquid mostly gone.

"That the jerk cheated on me? No, but you know, I'm a big girl, I can take it!" Selphie smirked proudly, putting her hand on her hip and gripping her bottle tightly.

"That you are," Midori agreed, saluting her a bit.

"I couldn't do it," Kairi admitted while shaking her head. "If Sora cheated? I'd be devastated."

"No you wouldn't Kai, you'd get through it," Selphie said encouragingly. "Not that you'll ever have to."

Kairi shook her head and said, "Nope. I'd actually probably stay with him. I'm pa-the-e-tic."

Naminé sighed and said, "Don't even think it Kai. You have him so whipped. I'm even impressed, and I have Roxas whipped just as good."

The redhead thought about it for a moment before nodding her head and turning to Midori, her eyes wide with wonder, "Hey Midi, where were you last Friday?"

"Hmmm?"

"We were all supposed to hang out but you didn't show," Kairi said, her tone of voice showing that she thought the topic was just as serious as if they were talking about the meaning of life. "And you weren't here! Where were you?"

"I was on a date," she replied with a shrug.

"With who?"

"You wouldn't know him," Midori said. "Works at the gym. Graduated a few years ago."

"Oh!" Selphie waved her arms around dramatically again. "I don't know his name, but I totally know who you're talking about. He is fine."

"But he's not Riku," Kairi said seriously.

"Is there something that you want to tell us Kai?" Midori asked after a moment of silence, or as much silence as there could be when there were drunken people all around them.

The birthday girl seemed confused, and said, "Yeah, that you should go with Riku. You totally, like, like him."

Midori rolled her eyes and chose not to answer, it was a long debated topic in their group of friends; one she was getting tired of.

"Oh, I have a good idea, lets play a small game of I Never! Drinking game! Totally looks like the guys are playing a game!"

The four girls looked over and saw their male friends sitting around a table with a deck of playing cards and drinks. It didn't look like there were any real rules to what they were doing.

"Whatev," Kairi said as she went to rummage through the fridge, picking out a blue cooler. "As long as I get drunk, I'm in."

"I only got water, but I'm in too," Naminé agreed.

Midori just shrugged and Selphie grinned an almost evil grin. "I've never purposely dressed in the smallest, skankiest dress that I have on my birthday just to guarantee that I'll get laid."

Kairi didn't touch her drink. She pouted and said, "But that's not true. I could wear a big swear and sweat pants and still guarantee getting laid. I wore this because I want to look awesome. Besides, this isn't the smallest, skankiest dress I own."

"Damn, and I thought that was a good one," she said with a pout. Selphie looked at Naminé and said, "Remember, juicy and gossip worthy stuff."

"Quiet girls get all the good gossip," Naminé replied with a grin. "I've never gotten so drunk that I made a pass at a rock and cried when I was taken away from it." Selphie and Kairi laughed hysterically as Midori tipped her drink back.

"I've never hit on a teacher to get a good grade," Midori instantly shot back. Naminé sighed and drank her water. Selphie's mouth fell open, but she didn't peruse the question. Naminé's glare was enough to deter her.

"I never flashed a guy in a store to make him stop talking and give me my bags," Kairi said with a grin. Selphie didn't look the least bit bothered by this as she drank.

"I've never had sex in a public place," Selphie shot back at Kairi, who blushed a bit, but quickly chugged down her drink.

"Wow Kai, I knew you guys jumped each other a lot but I thought you did better than that," Midori said with a laugh.

"Don't do it on the beach, it's awkward," was the only specific answer she gave. "But there were a few other places."

"Where?"

Kairi just continued drinking while grinning.

Naminé shook her head and said, "Really, Kai I—"

"What the hell is that bitch doing?" Kairi's sweet tone of voice was instantly gone, instead replaced with an angry snarl. Her indigo eyes narrowed dangerously as she slammed her drink onto the counter, and stomped past them. She didn't stumble or wobble, despite how many drinks she had consumed by that point of time. Her hands were clenched into fists and her face had gone red with anger.

The other three girls looked around to see what had turned their happy friend into someone looking for blood, and all three gaped in shock at what they saw.

Sora was kissing another girl.

**VVVVVV**

They were all (aside from Riku) completely drunk. Sora was swaying back and forth on the chair, and Riku had to reach over every once and a while and push him back on his seat, but he was better than Roxas, who had just taken to lying on the floor while talking. The deck of cards that they has been using for their drinking game had long been tossed aside with an exclamation of '52 pick up' that no one really paid attention to.

Sora was a very distracted drinker. His thoughts jumps around in a way that would make anyone think he was insane. One minute he was thinking about how his drink tasted good, the next was how he wanted a puppy, then it was how the stupid garden gnome down the street was out to get him, then it was what he full intended on doing to Kairi later, and then it was about how his hands were huge, and so on and so forth. Every once and a while his friends would gain his attention, but for the most part he was in his own world. Only two things could get his attention when he was like that: Heartless and Kairi.

The latter was what Tidus used to gain his attention. He just did it in a very tactless way. "So, does Kairi wear thongs?"

Sora's head snapped around so fast that Roxas whined about getting whiplash from watching him do it. Sora's eyes narrowed as he zeroed in on Tidus, his face going red.

"Ha, she does!"

"No she doesn't!" Sora snapped back. "So you can fuck right off!" Another thing about a drunken Sora was that he always told the truth, and there was no exception to that topic.

"Sora, clam down," Riku said to his friend warily. Sora wasn't the type to get in a drunken fight or anything, but when it came to Kairi, Riku wouldn't underestimate him in anyway.

"Come on Sora, she's hot. You have to share details. It's part of the bro code. The guy with the hottest girl always has to share. Lulu and Naminé are pretty good too but Lulu would streak in public without a care and Naminé's a prude. I mean, I've been checking out her ass all night and she's totally got it going on back there. Please tell me that you've—"

"I will chop you into pieces and scatter your body across the worlds," Sora warned him. "I swear I'll do it. I'm the Keyblade Master, I must have some kind of diplomatic immunity. You know, because other wise I can totally just let Heartless take over or I could be a douche and go and open Keyholes and stuff. I'll need my popped collar and aviators though." He suddenly jumped up, stumbling a bit. He pointed his finger at Tidus, literally a centimeter away from his nose and said, "I swear, if you even look at her again..." He made a wild motion with his hand that didn't seem to mean anything, not even to a sober (and very amused) Riku, before stalking off. He wanted to find Kairi.

Suddenly, a girl with red hair wearing black appeared in front of him. "Hi Sora."

"Ummm...hi?" he asked slowly and went to move around her, but she got in his way again. "I'm trying to find my girlfriend."

"But I am your girlfriend," she whined. "I'm Kairi. Don't you recognize me?"

He squinted at her, shook his head and said, "No you're not. You're that crazy girl from school, Jiji or Juju (It was actually Megumi, so he wasn't even close) or something along those lines."

He walked passed her but the girl said, "She's upstairs fucking some other guy Sora. She's a whore you know. Sleeps with other people all the time."

Sora whipped around and said, "You lying bit—" He was suddenly cut off as she practically tackled him, pressing her lips to his. The first thing that went through his drunken mind was shock, and then panic settled in before he finally realized that he should push her away. He shoved her a little more roughly than he would usually shove a girl away, wiping his mouth with a disgusted look on his face.

"Oh, hi Kairi," Megumi said suddenly, and he turned around, feeling panic flash through him. Sure enough, Kairi was standing there with a very unimpressed look on her face.

Sora tried to stutter out an apology, he tried to explain, but she simply held up a hand and he fell silent. Kairi suddenly seemed to move super fas, because she was right in front of Megumi. She hauled back her arm and punched the other girl in the face. Punched, not slapped. Megumi, apparently, wasn't expecting this, and went down without a struggle. Her nose was bleeding heavily, and Sora was willing to bet that it was broken.

"You bitch," Kairi snarled at her. "What do you think I am, stupid? Think I was going to see someone kissing him and just jump to conclusions and storm away or something? Please, if that's all it takes to break someone up then it's not love. Besides, I saw him push you away. Now get the hell out of my party and my boyfriend's house unless you want me to permanently rearrange your ugly face!" Kairi was only a small girl, but right then and there, she was positively the most horrifying thing Sora had ever seen. At the same time though, he thought that a pissed off Kairi who acted possessive over him (at times, not all the time) was hot as hell.

Kairi continued to glare at the other girl as she got up and stumbled away. She only seemed to realize that everyone was staring at her in silence before she waved her and said, "We're all good! Go back to whatever you were doing." This seemed to appease the drunken people enough and they quickly forgot what had happened.

"Hey," Sora whispered as he wrapped his arms around her from behind, resting his head on the top of hers. "Thanks for not getting angry with me."

Kairi's angered expression instantly vanished as she turned around to face him and said, "I'm probably pathetic enough to even stay with you if you did cheat. I need you too much."

"No worries here, that'll never happen," he replied as he kissed her gently on the lips quickly.

"Wanna come dance with me?" she asked, already getting her pout ready. She knew that he didn't like to dance at all.

"Unlike some graceful people," Sora said, "I suck at dancing. And by some graceful people, I do not mean you. You suck too." He didn't resist as she started to drag him into the group of flailing teenagers though.

"Maybe," she agreed. They were perfect for each other on the dance floor, since neither could really dance. "We don't need to do much though. Just…move a little? 'Sides, I don't have to be good at it to like dancing."

"Tidus said he saw up your dress," Sora suddenly remembered, his mind blurring what actually said earlier. "I wanted to punch him. I should punch him."

"No," she whined. "Stay with me."

"But I—" She cut him off by kissing him. They stayed on the 'dance floor' for a while, not really so much dancing as they were just making out. Nobody else seemed to care because, by that time, people were already stumbling outside to throw up if there was no room in the bathroom. It was getting a bit out of control, and if any of them had been in their right minds they would have sent everyone home, but even Riku and Naminé weren't in their right minds. Despite what they had asked everyone earlier, some people had smuggled in some drugs and the hotbox effect made them all a little off.

They only left the dance floor when Kairi said that she was thirsty. Of course, alcohol wasn't the thing she needed to get rid of her thirst, but it was what she ended up drinking anyway.

They managed to get to their friends and Midori smiled and said, "Try this, I dare you. I saved the last ones for you two." She held out two shots of a brightly coloured liquid, one bright green and the other bring blue.

"What kinds are they?" Kairi asked her curiously.

"I think the blue is raspberry and the green is apple. I dunno. They all tasted good."

"You can have this one," Kairi said and passed Sora the green one. They both drank them at the exact same time and both ended up coughing and choking.

"Holy crap Midi, what's in those?" Sora asked. "I feel like my throat is on fire."

"Vodka? I dunno," she admitted. "I thought they were good. I had a purple one though. Anyway, Happy Birthday Kairi! I mean, I know it's not your birthday anymore, it's the next day, but oh well."

Sora looked around at the clock and his eyes narrowed with confusion as he asked, "What the hell time is 22:3003?"

"It's 2:30 Sora," Naminé said dryly. "I think you've had enough to drink."

Sora stared at Naminé for a full minute before he suddenly hugged her and said, "You're such a good friend Nami. Always watching after us. Always keeping Roxas in check. You're just a good friend."

"Thanks Sora," she replied with amusement and patted his back before trying to move away, but he wouldn't let go. She looked around at Kairi for help and said, "Get it off."

Kairi giggled and pulled at Sora's arm. "Don't hug her, hug me." She let out a squeak of surprise when Sora shot around quickly, letting go of Namine and squeezing Kairi tightly, his hands going down lower than was appropriate in public. The blonde rolled her eyes and both Riku and Midori looked more than amused.

"Hey, hey," Midori said to Naminé, as if trying to whisper a secret, just failing because she was being very loud. "Why is Roxas dancing on the table?"

"Oh dear god," Naminé mumbled and ran off to her boyfriend who had started up a rather interesting rendition of the chicken dance while standing on the table. Roxas, without a doubt, was an incredibly goofy drunk.

"Hey Riku, where's Aria?" Midori asked him curiously.

"Not allowed to come," Riku replied, glancing over at Sora and Kairi for only a moment while they started locking lips before turning back to face her.

Midori seemed to realize what he was looking at, rolled her eyes and said, "Come on. I saw Wakka talk Irvine into a break dancing contest. They're going outside and it's going to be badass. Like…Mewtwo badass."

"What is with you and Pokémon when you're drunk?"

"They secretly rule the world," she whispered before stumbling away. He shook his head with amusement and followed her.

**VVVVVV**

"Sora," Kairi muttered as she broke away from him.

"Yeah?" he asked as he hugged her to him tightly, resting the side of his head against hers.

She closed her eyes for a moment before saying, "Lets go upstairs."

Sora hesitated, and realized (even in his drunken state) that it was really weird that he was hesitating. Something, somewhere in the back of his mind was telling him it was a bad idea. He shook the feeling off quickly, because why would he have a bad feeling about something that had happened many times before? It wasn't like he'd ever had some sort of prophetic dream that warned him not to sleep with his girlfriend during a time when there was a lot of alcohol or anything around.

They slipped by everyone else unnoticed. Their friends were either completely drunk, or helping the drunk people. They managed to get to the top of the stairs before Kairi pulled Sora down and her lips met his in a deep, open mouth kiss. Sora ran one hand over her cheek and the other moved to her lower back, bringer her closer to him as he pressed her against the wall.

Kairi moved her arms around his neck, pulling a bit and moving one of her legs to his hip. Even in his drunken state, he clearly understood what she wanted. With a grunt, he slid his hands to her thighs and pulled her up so that her legs were wrapped around his waist. Sora broke the heated kiss, but he didn't stay off of her, instead pressing his lips to her neck as he heaved off of the wall and stumbled towards his bedroom. He pressed Kairi tightly against the door so that he could grab the key to open it out of his pocket and eventually managed to open the door. They stumbled through it and he kicked the door shut behind him, locking it before fumbling over to the bed, all of his weight landing on top of her as they fell.

"Sora," Kairi muttered, feeling his hands move eagerly. If he heard her, he didn't acknowledge it. There was nothing soft or gentle about his kisses nor his touches, but she was more than alright with that.

A squeak of surprise her lips as his lips hit a particularly sensitive spot on her neck, and she suddenly pushed him off of her and onto his back. She could always overpower him when he got some alcohol in him, something that never happened when he was sober. She climbed on top of him and he instantly grabbed her hips, squeezing tightly.

"You know I love you, right Kairi?" Sora muttered.

She grinned warmly and said, "I know. I love you too." She stared at him, still smiling, but let out a scream as Sora suddenly rolled them over again, resting all of his weight on her as he kissed her deeply. She could feel his hands sliding up her back, pushing her dress up, as he whispered, "It's your birthday Iri. This is all about you."

She didn't reply, instead closing her eyes as his lips went to her neck again.

**VVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

And that is as close as you'll ever get to me writing some sort of sex scene, which was actually just a makeout one.

Hmmm…I'm not really sure if I have much to say. Things actually get underway in the next chapter. Most of this, so far, has been mirroring the original, but slowly it's going to diverge. You'll see.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I know I haven't been able to reply to people lately, but I really do still appreciate it. I just have less time than I did during school, if that makes any sense at all.

If you couldn't tell, scenes in fics/movies/whatever where someone sees their significant other kissing someone else, but it wasn't their fault, and they freak out and don't even bother trying to get an explanation, don't listen to the other person, and anything like that, really make me mad. Grow up stupid little drama queens/kings!

Thanks to the following people for reviewing: Jad826, Shire Folk, The 666th necrophiliac, Trainalf, patriots12, LordSillegna, Eddie Camp, shadowwolf547 and 16afoster!

Don't hesitate to send any comments, complaints, suggestions, questions…anything!

PS. Fun fact, apparently lighting 40 candles on a birthday cake WILL set off the smoke detector. We did it for my step-father's birthday.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	6. All Good Things Come To An End

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Five – All Good Things Come To An End_

The waves lapped against the shore gently, making only small splashing sounds as they hit the land and then rushed back into the deep ocean. The warm wind drifted gently through her long hair, and the world around her was at peace. This was the type of place she truly felt comfortable, the place she truly belonged in.

Sure, Kairi's eighteenth birthday party, that had taken place two weeks earlier, had been fun, but she knew that she would never be a partygoer, preferring her serene scenes to anything.

She closed her deep indigo eyes for a moment as she took in a deep breath and then exhaled, opening her eyes again. A small grin appeared on her face as she watched the brilliant red sunrise in front of her.

Quickly she looked down at the sketchpad that was in her arms as she finished the picture she had been working on. It was one with all of her friends, as well as herself. Her smile grew as she held it up in front of her, loving her finishing product.

Naminé stretched as she shifted her feet back onto the dock, her silver-colour boots that came up just over her ankles thumping lightly against the old, worn wood. She brushed any the small splinters that rested on her bright yellow shorts and straightened out her pale silver and white top that rested off of her shoulders. She put her sketchbook into the bag that she had brought with her and winced a bit as she felt her hair tug at her movement, the blonde locks tangled up with her simple golden necklace that Roxas had given her. She quickly tugged it up into a ponytail to stop it from happening again.

Naminé turned to head over to her wooden boat, the one that she had made with some help (more like a lot of help) from Tidus and Wakka. However, she didn't get there. Something shining in the water caught her eye. She bent over slightly and gasped. There was a pale green bottle at the edge of the waves with a note in it. Her mind flew back over the note that Kairi had found years before, when they were still one person, and she quickly jumped off of the dock.

Naminé didn't care about the water as it splashed up her legs and made her boots soggy. She grabbed the bottle and turned it over, searching for a specific insignia.

And she found it: the three interlocking circles to make a silhouette of King Mickey's head.

Naminé took a deep breath as she turned around and looked at the vibrant sunrise again as she remembered what the sailors that lived in the town had told her.

Red sky at night, sailor's delight…

…red sky at morning, sailor's take warning…

**VVVVVVV**

It was one of those times that Naminé thanked the God and Goddess, Kingdom Hearts, Zeus, Santa, and everyone else, that she had been training hard over the past year. She didn't have the chance to run so far, so quickly, in a long time, and was getting out of breath as she pushed open the door to the Hikari household without knocking. If she were any other person, not a Keyblade Bearer, she doubted she would have been able to do that quick sprint without hurting herself.

She rushed up the stairs and ended up knocking over a stand in the hall, effectively waking up Midori who stumbled out of her room, blink her eyes with confusion.

Midori looked at Naminé, then at the clock, and then at Naminé again as she growled, "Why are you up so _early_? Why are you making so much noise _here so early_? Unless the world is about to blow up you have no right to be up _so early_!"

"It's something important Midi," she said, completely ignoring the constant use of the word 'early'. "I'm going to wake Sora, Kairi and Roxas up."

She peaked cautiously into Sora's room first and then pushed the door open all the way, a grin appearing on her pale features as she saw Kairi curled up next to Sora with a big smile on her face. As much as Naminé didn't want to break up this adorable moment, she had to. She wasn't the least bit surprised to see Kairi there, because she too had spent the night at the Hikari household. Just because she wanted to wait until they were married to sleep with Roxas didn't mean that she objected to literally sleeping in the same bed as him. She was just an early riser, and he could sleep through anything.

She shook them both gently, after making sure that they were both clothed, and both blinked at her with confusion.

"What's the matter N-Na-Nam?" Sora said as he yawned.

"Get downstairs," she said. "Get dressed…or don't…I don't really care."

"What's going on?" Midori asked as she appeared at the door, still in her pajamas, but a little more awake.

"Call Riku," Naminé said as she walked out of the room to go wake up Roxas.

Sora and Kairi shot one another worried looks before quickly getting up. Sora was about to walk out of the room when Kairi put her hand up and said, "Put on a shirt, you're not walking around with just boxers on."

Sora looked down at himself then at her and said, "We're in my house…"

"I don't care, I don't want any other peeping Megumi ("Who?" he asked) looking at you, so put on a shirt. That, and you were sicker than a dog earlier this week," she pointed out. "I swear, you get sick like once a month. You need more orange juice in your life."

"Yes ma'am," Sora said with a wince. He really didn't like being sick, and he had been miserable until yesterday, so he'd take her advice (more like her demands, but he didn't mind) this time. Or he should just stop sleeping outside when it rains, either way.

Meanwhile, in the room across from them, Naminé gently shook Roxas, but all he did was let out a great snore.

"Roxas," she groaned angrily. "Get up!" She started poking him, her carefully painted nails only digging in enough to leave a small indent but not draw blood. He grunted and rolled over again. "Get up!"

"But the dancing llama will steal my soul unless I set him on fire," he muttered, causing her to stop poking him and start laughing.

Her laughter seemed to wake him up a little more and he blinked one of his cerulean eyes open, staring at his girlfriend through his messy blond bangs as he let out a large yawn.

"Good, you're awake," Naminé said happily. "Now get up."

"No," he muttered as he grabbed her and yanked her onto the bed beside him. "You come back down."

"Roxas," she muttered embarrassedly. "There's something really, really important that I have to tell you."

"Ahh!" he yelled suddenly, shooting away from her and to the opposite end of the bed with a terrified face. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

Naminé glared at him and said, "No, I meant there's something important everyone needs to know. Sora, Kairi and Midori are already downstairs and someone is calling Riku over so we're waiting for you."

"Ok then," Roxas said after a moment as he went to grab one of his shirts when he saw Naminé still glaring at him. "What?"

"I know we've never slept together or anything, but if that's the way you're going to react if I ever do have a baby, then we won't be sleeping together for a _very_ long time," she snapped before turning on her and walking out of the door.

Roxas quickly yanked the brown shirt over his head as he yelled, "Naminé! I didn't mean it like that!"

**VVVVVVV**

"There had better be some good reason I had to wake up and come all the way over here at this god-awful time," Riku growled, sitting beside Sora.

"Don't look at me," Sora muttered as he hid his face in Kairi's hair as she sat on his other side, leaning on him tiredly. "I'd rather still be asleep."

"So who called this meeting then?"

"I did," Naminé said while twisting her hair around her finger.

"Well what's the matter, you said it was important," Midori yawned.

"I was on the play island this morning. I wanted to see the sunrise so that I could get some inspiration to finish my drawing."

"Good for you, I assume that we need to see the masterpiece now and that's why we're here."

"Shut up Riku," Roxas snapped.

Naminé cleared her throat again and said, "Well if you don't think what I found in the water is important Riku then you can leave." There was a pause before she said, "No? Good, then shut it."

"What did you find?" Kairi asked, amusement on her features.

Naminé reached into her tote bag, and revealed a green, glass bottle with a note in it.

Sora gasped as his arm shot out and he grabbed it. Kairi watched as he opened the bottle and unraveled the letter inside. She saw King Mickey's emblem and felt her heart stop for a moment.

He glanced at it before reading aloud.

"_Sora, _

_I hope this letter finds you and all of the other Keyblade Bearers well, and I am sorry that I needed to contact you at all. Something has come to our attention here at Disney Castle, something that could cause a lot of problems for you guys, especially Kairi. We'll be coming to get you around the 20__th__ of June, since I know you'll all be done classes by then, and I don't want to make anyone angry by taking you guys away earlier. I'm sorry that I can't tell you any more in a letter, but I don't want this to fall into somebody else's hands and for them to use the information against you. And don't worry; we can definitely get through the world barriers and into your world. Watch out for Kairi, and don't let her go with anyone you guys don't know, okay?_

_Sincerely,_

_King Mickey Mouse."_

Sora dropped the letter to the ground and felt rage rising in him. Kairi was in danger. That was the only thing going through his head.

She reached up and rested her hand on his cheek before saying, "I'll be okay. I'll stay with you guys and I'll be cautious. You know I will."

"Doesn't stop me from worrying," he replied.

"So we have a few weeks before he shows up, ," Riku said with a yawn. "We can keep her safe for that long. Now if you all excuse me, I'm going to fall asleep right here." Sure enough, Riku slumped over onto the arm of the couch and was asleep within minutes. Sora chuckled and stood up, glad that his friend had lightened the mood. After Sora stood up, Riku stretched out the rest of the way.

Midori rolled her eyes and said, "I'll get him a blanket. It's early, if you guys are still tired, go to sleep."

Kairi yawned and turned to Sora. "I want to go to sleep."

He shot Roxas and Naminé a quick smile and they both went upstairs, able to practically feel the tension coming off the two.

"So I guess now would be a good time to apologize?" Roxas asked her.

"Yes, yes it would."

**VVVVVVV**

Kairi was lying in the bed for only a moment before she let out a small groan while curling into her side and holding her stomach. Sora looked at her with worry and asked, "What's wrong? Are you getting a cold?"

"Maybe," she admitted. "I'm just feeling a bit sick, and a bit sore too."

"Great, not only do we have to keep a watch over you because something's coming after you again, but I probably got you sick. What kind of boyfriend am I?" he asked dramatically.

She chuckled but didn't say anything else. She wanted to tell him that she was afraid about what Mickey's letter said, but at the same time she wanted to prove that she was strong, that she could take care of herself.

Sora suddenly jumped from the bed, startling her enough to make her jump. She let out an unhappy groan as a wave of nausea passed over her and glared at him. Why was he jumping around when all she wanted to do was not be sick and sleep? She had been feeling a little off since the day before, and she really just wanted to get better.

Sora ignored her and went through some things in his closet before holding out a pink bag. At her curious look, he said, "I never gave you your birthday present. I don't see how I could forget. It's been two weeks."

She sat up eagerly. She forgot about a present too, but couldn't help but feel extremely giddy. He set the bag in front of her and sat beside her as she eagerly tore out the white tissue paper and reached in to see what it was. Her hand came into contact with a hard surface, and she carefully picked it out, her face turning into one of wonder when she saw what it was.

It was a circular box made of cool, silver metal with intricate gold shapes that swirled across the sides and the top, reminding her of the ocean. There were small, dark sapphires and white diamonds around the sides, and on the top were two overlapping hearts, one made from a bright blue lapis stone and the other from a pale blue opal. There was a lock on the front in the shape of a crown, and a small, old-fashioned silver key with a heart at the end on a silver chain sat on top of the box.

"Oh my god," she breathed out. "Sora. This—I—these can't be real. I—it must have cost you a fortune. I—"

Sora chuckled at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and said, "All the metal and all the stones are real. It didn't cost me anything actually. It would have been crazy expensive if it had." She looked up at him, surprise written on her face. "You remember when we helped out in Christmas Town? Well, I talked to an elf named Gemma who made music boxes. She said that she was sad because so many people didn't want them anymore. Then she offered to make me one for you. She said she knew what I wanted for you. She said that we both had good hearts, and I never asked for anything from other people when I help them. It took her a while, but when I found it on my desk not too long ago, I thought it was the perfect birthday present."

"It is," she said, still stunned with awe. She took the necklace and put it in the lock, twisting it until she heard it click open. She then lifted the lid and listened to the melody that played. She had never heard it before, but she instantly loved it. Looking up at Sora she said, "Thank you..I..oh my god Sora, thank you." She hugged him tightly, the melody still playing from her music box. She then backed away from him and kissed him on the lips.

That was when the box tilted a bit in her hand and she heard an odd, soft rattling noise that sounded like something was hitting the silk, blue padding inside of them music box. She pulled away from him quickly, moving out of the embrace, desperately checking to see if she had broken it already.

Sora stared at her oddly for a moment before panic suddenly hit him. He had completely forgotten what he put inside of the music box. The idea was that he was supposed to be prepared when he gave her the present, but he completely forgot about it.

"No!" Sora exclaimed, his hand reaching out to take the music box from her, but it was already too late. She found what was making the noise and it now rested in her palm. It was a simple white-gold ring with one slightly bigger diamond in the center and tiny diamonds around it.

Kairi felt her heart beat pick up and her eyes widen. She slowly set the music box down on the bedside table, staring at the ring in her hand. She wasn't completely oblivious; she knew exactly what this ring was. She suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe, but she knew that someone had to say something. "Sora—what—you—I—is this—I—"

Sora felt panic wash over him, and he knew there was no going back. He tried to ask her what he wanted to, but all that he managed to get out was something similar to what she had, "I—can you—will you—I—jeez this is hard—I—I was wondering— and you know and will you—"

"Yes," Kairi suddenly interrupted him as her brain began functioning right. Tears were streaking down her cheeks but she was smiling broadly now. She launched herself at him and exclaimed, "Yes! I—yes!"

Sora realized that she had gotten the message and let out a laugh as he hugged her back as she just kept repeating the word 'yes' over and over again. He could feel her tears against his neck, but he could also feel her huge smile. He knew her answer already, but he also knew that he had to do it the right way. Knowing her answer already helped, but it was still nerve-wracking actually saying the words. "Kairi, I know we're young but—well—after high school of course, will you marry me?"

She laughed again and said, "Of course I will." She put the ring in his hand, and he gave her an odd look. Rolling her eyes, Kairi asked, "Are you going to put it on me?"

"Oh," he said sheepishly. He took her hand and slid it onto her finger, causing her to giggle hysterically. She sat on him and kissed him over and over again, barely giving him the chance to breathe between kisses. She giggled happily while she stared at the ring, even after they laid back down, her previous sickness forgotten. It actually wasn't that uncommon a thing for people to get engaged almost right out of high school on Destiny Islands, which they would have been doing this year if everyone hadn't been held back.

Sora sighed happily as he gently rubbed her back up and down and started muttering, "We'll get married and kick Roxas and Midori out, because you always said that you liked this place. We'll both get jobs that we love and then we'll have the big family that you've always wanted."

"Are you sure you'll be able to handle an emotional, pregnant me?" she joked.

"Sure I will. I'll help you with all the aches, pains and even the morning sickness too," he replied playfully before kissing her again. He felt her tense up for a moment, but before he would break away to see what was wrong. She just smiled a bit and said, "I feel a little sick. You don't want me throwing up on you, right?"

Sora chuckled a bit and said, "No." He rolled her over so that she was facing away from him and wrapped his arms around her, spooning her to him. "We can stay like this though, so even if you do throw up, it won't be on me."

Kairi giggled a bit, but as she felt Sora's breathing even out behind her as he fell asleep, her smile vanished as she went over the conversation they just had again.

_'I'll help you with all the aches, pains and even the morning sickness too.'_

"_What's wrong, did I get you sick?"_

"_We'll both get jobs that we love and then we'll have the big family you've always wanted.'_

"_Maybe," she admitted. "I'm just feeling a bit sick, and a bit sore too."_

_'Are you sure you'll be able to handle an emotional, pregnant me?' _

Her eyes widened at the thoughts passing through her head. Sora shifted a bit behind her, his arms resting around her waist. There was only one conscious thought passing through her mind now.

_'Oh my god.' _

**VVVVVVV**

_**Author's Note**_

You guys are such awesome reviewers that I decided to update a little bit earlier than I usually would. Yay you! That, and it's shorter than normal.

Yes, I know, typical, clichéd thing to happen, right? Sora asking her to marry him when they're only 18? In many cultures, the younger you're married (to a point), the better, and I've structured Destiny Islands a bit that way. I mean, in terms of the existence of humanity, it wasn't even that long ago that people were married off at the age of 12 or so, or that people first started marrying for love (in general). That's actually an extremely new concept in the grand scheme of things. Anyway, you all just smile and nod your heads.

Spoiler: Sora and Kairi do not get married anytime soon. That's different from the original. She's just gonna be like 'sucka, look at my awesome ring'…not really, but you get my point.

Thank you, Trainalf, LordAilegna, Jad826, The 666th necrophiliac, Eddie Camp, shadowwolf547, Q-A the Authoress, Twisting Beliefs and Shire Folk for reviewing!

On another note, I'm a huge fan of the TV show Bones, and I almost cried watching the one tonight. I mean, I cry at nearly everything remotely sad anyway, but that was still incredibly sad! Even if you don't like/watch the show, it was sad!

Anyway…remember to leave a review! It gives me motivation. I'm always willing to listen to different ideas or suggestions!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	7. Everything Changes

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Six – Everything Changes_

It was agonizingly hot out. There was no breeze, and the sun beat down on them viciously, even though it was only morning. They were waiting on the beach for the gummi ship to come and get them, and Kairi had to wonder why they didn't just have a gummi ship of their own to use. It would have made everything so much easier. Then she wondered why Sora wasn't just using his corridors of light thing to get them to the castle. Her mind reminded her that it could take quite a while to walk to certain worlds, and Disney was pretty far away from Destiny Islands. Kairi, for one, did not feel like walking through white space for a week or so when they could easily take a gummi ship.

When she and Sora started using corridors of light, they always jumped to the closest world, so they never spent too much time in the white expanse. The most she could remember being in one of the corridors was still under a day, but definitely more than twelve hours.

Leaning back on the coconut tree she was sitting under, Kairi looked around at everyone else. Naminé was stretched out under another tree, her sketchbook out as she worked rapidly. Midori was lying on the sand, appearing to be asleep, but Kairi knew that she wasn't. Sora, Roxas and Riku were close to the water, engaged in what looked like an intense conversation that she was sure she didn't want to hear from the motions that Riku was making, the wary look on Sora's face, and the amused one on Roxas'.

Deciding that nothing interesting was happening in the real world, she let her mind wander. The letter haunted her, even if it wasn't really detailed and didn't explain the whole problem. Maybe, under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have bothered her so much, but things were different now. Everything had changed.

Everything.

**VVVVVV**

Neither Sora nor Kairi really felt like doing anything that day, so they slept until nearly two in the afternoon. Sora let her sleep in a little longer than him, waking her after he was done taking a shower so that she could have one. After that, they both just laid on the bed, lazily watching the TV in Sora's room.

Kairi's attention wasn't on the TV show though. It was on her revelation earlier. Well, it wasn't much of a revelation. It was more of an idea. It wasn't like she had been incredibly sick for a long time, or that she had missed her monthly visitor (yet), but there was a feeling weighing on her that something wasn't right; that something was changing. Sora's idealistic dreams for the future, finishing high school, getting married, finding good jobs, then having a family made her mind jump to conclusions. Now though, she couldn't shake the thought off, because if she was right, then Sora's dreams were definitely going to be thrown off.

She glanced over at him and said, "Maybe we should go do something, aside from be lazy."

Sora rolled onto his side leisurely, staring at her with a happy grin. "I dunno. Sleeping all day is kind of the best thing ever."

"You're a lazy bum," she said, an affectionate smile appearing on her face as she ruffled his hair. Sora retaliated by moving his fingers on her side, causing her to squeak and back away. "No!"

"Say I'm not a lazy bum," Sora said playfully, reaching to tickle her sides again.

"But you are one!" she said as she pushed herself away from him as he tried to reach her again. She let out a quick scream as she rolled off of the bed and landed on the floor on her back. Sora rolled over so that he was looking down at her, an amused look on his features.

"Floor comfy?"

She smiled at him sweetly and said, "No sex."

His grin turned into a confused look as his eyebrow furrowed and he said, "Come again?"

"One month. No sex."

"Because I tickled you?"

She got off of the floor and smiled her sweet smile again. "Yup."

"What? That's not fair!"

"Two months."

"But…doesn't the fact that I just proposed and gave you an expensive ring count for anything?" he asked with a pout.

Kairi thought about this for a moment and said, "I suppose it does. One month then."

"Why?" Sora asked her with a frown.

"For the worst proposal ever," she answered. A thoughtful look appeared on her face and she said, "I thought I was going to have to ask you, once I realized what you were doing."

Sora didn't say anything to that, though he was pouting at her. She grinned at him and patted him on the head while saying, "I'm starving. So maybe if you're a good boy all day, I'll change my mind."

"This is blackmail."

She grinned. "Think of it more as just giving you some goals to motivate you. Come on, lets raid your kitchen."

Sora sighed in defeat and followed her out of the room.

When they finally left his room, they found that neither Riku nor Midori were there, but Roxas and Naminé were. The two of them were in the kitchen attempting to cook. Kairi's face went green at the smell, and Sora looked disgusted at the sight.

"What the hell is that?" he asked, startling both of them.

"Oh, nothing much," Naminé said weakly, glancing at the object warily. "It's just—" She let out a loud squawk of surprise and suddenly sprang behind Roxas, putting him between her and the concoction on the table. "It just moved! I swear to God!"

Kairi looked at the green lump and felt sick to her stomach. She didn't understand how Roxas and Naminé could both be so horrible in a kitchen that they managed to make something that was supposed to be food look like monster intenseness, or something equally as gross. She glanced up at them and asked, "How did you make that?"

Roxas looked at her sheepishly. "We were experimenting with a salad?

Sora's eyes widened and he glanced at it with surprise. "That was supposed to be a salad? As in lettuce and a few other things mixed in?"

"Yes?"

"You two have no hope for the future," Kairi muttered. She looked at Sora and asked, "Can we go out and eat? Maybe take them with us so they don't starve to death or something?" She pushed the crimson strands of hair that fell onto her face back behind her ear with her left hand as she stared at him quizzically, waiting for an answer.

Before her boyfriend could answer though, Naminé let out another really weird sound, and Kairi looked around in time for her blonde cousin to basically jump on her. Naminé grasped her wrist and brought her hand up to face level so that she could see the shining ring clearly.

"Oh my god," Naminé gasped as she stared at the ring. "Oh my god. Is this what I—oh my god!"

Kairi giggled happily and nodded her head. Naminé laughed and suddenly threw her arms around Kairi, hugging her tightly.

Roxas moved beside his twin and said, "Congrats. Riku owes me 50 munny now."

"Do I want to know why?" Sora asked.

"He thought you'd chicken out," Roxas answered distractedly, obviously thinking about what he was going to spend his winnings on.

Sora frowned and said, "I was going to call and invite him for food too, but forget that."

"Riku doesn't have a cellphone anymore, and he's out with Midori," Naminé pointed out.

"Really? Why?" Kairi asked with interest.

"She needed some help showing the kids she's teaching how to defend themselves," Roxas said. "Now, I believe there was a mention of edible food?"

Sora grinned at Kairi and rested his arm around her shoulder. "I think I can spare some money for all of us for this occasion, right?"

She moved closer to him and said, "Well, I'm hungry, and I don't think it'd be a good engagement gift to have your brother and my cousin murdered by a living blob."

All of them just laughed, except for Naminé, who stared at the green concoction suspiciously.

They didn't go to an extremely fancy place, and Sora warned Roxas and Naminé that he didn't have all that much money on him, so they couldn't buy everything in the world.

They looked over the menu, and Sora learned close to Kairi and whispered, "You can get whatever you want. I have enough with me, I just don't want them to make me broke."

Kairi kissed Sora on the cheek and she ended up ordering the chicken parmesan, eating it faster than even Sora or Roxas ate their food. They all stared at her oddly as she sat there, happily waiting for the rest of them to finish before they could get dessert.

Suddenly though, she felt an unpleasant wave of nausea passed through her. She knew that food poisoning rarely set in this fast, so she doubted it was what she ate. She shifted a bit, and her stomach clenched painfully. She nudged Sora, because she was sitting in the inside of the booth.

"Bathroom," she said quickly, and he let her out.

She walked calmly until she was out of sight, then she ran into the extremely clean washroom. The second she was in the room, she felt a very unpleasant wave of nausea run through her as she threw herself into one of the stalls and threw him in the toilet.

She coughed and gagged for a moment, throwing up everything that she had just eaten. She whimpered a bit, wiping off her mouth and leaning back against the wall, breathing heavily. She stayed there for a few moments before flushing the toilet and walking to the sinks. She waited for a moment, but the sickness never returned, so she returned to the table after chewing a mint.

Sora beamed at her when she reappeared and said, "I got you strawberry cheesecake."

She smiled back, but the thought of her favourite dessert made her feel sick. She felt really nervous and her mind returned to her earlier thoughts. She put her hand on her stomach, though no one else noticed. She had a feeling that her suspicions might be more than just suspicions.

**VVVVVV**

Kairi broke out of her thoughts as the gummi ship appeared and landed not far from them. She watched with a grin as Sora rushed towards the brightly coloured vehicle as the door opened, and an anthropomorphic dog and duck jumped out at him, meeting him in an overly excited group hug filled with laughter.

Sora detached himself from his friends and walked over to Kairi, holding out his hand to help her up. As he pulled her to him, he asked, "Are you okay?"

"Just tired," she admitted with a small yawn. "I didn't get much sleep. Too excited."

"You can sleep on the ship," Sora said. He winked at her an added, "I'll even let you sit on my lap if you ask nicely enough."

She grinned and batted her eyelashes at him. "Four months."

He stopped walking and she happily walked passed him, going up to Donald and Goofy. "Hi guys!"

"Hiya Kairi!" Goofy said as he gave her a hug. Kairi beamed at him before turning to Donald and picking him up in a hug.

"Wak! Put me down!" Donald yelled, flailing his arms around. Kairi laughed and set him down, only for Naminé and then Midori to do the same thing, just to get a rise out of him.

"You guys ready?" Goofy asked.

"Yeah, is Mickey here?" Riku questioned, glancing into the interior of the small gummi ship curiously. He was willing to bet that it was only a small ship with seats, a bathroom and maybe a fridge, not like the gummi ships he was used to with bedrooms, personal bathrooms and an entire kitchen.

"He had ta stay at the castle, but don't you worry, he'll be there when we get there!" the anthropomorphic dog answered.

Sora walked by them, ignoring the conversation as he nudged Kairi and asked, "Why four?"

"Cause I said so," she shrugged. In reality, Kairi wanted basically nothing to do with any sort of intimate contact beyond hugs and kisses. She knew why though, even if nobody else did.

"Well, come on!" Donald squawked impatiently. "We have a schedule to keep."

"Don't you take the most round-about routes ever though?" Roxas asked while raising an eyebrow, going through the memories that he had from both himself and his brother. Not only did Donald crash the gummi ship several times, while blaming Sora, but he tended to take the long way to their destinations.

Naminé nudged him and whispered something, but no one else caught it. He shrugged but nodded his head, walking onto the gummi ship without another word. '

Sora marched in next, followed by a slightly perplexed Riku, Donald and Goofy. Midori fell back beside Kairi and asked, "What's with Pouts-a-lot?"

The redhead just smiled and shrugged. Sora didn't look at her as she sat beside him, but as the ship lurched off of the ground, she let out a small groan of disproval, her stomach lurching with the ship. Sora looked over at her with worry, and once they were allowed to walk around, he pulled her over to him so that she was sitting on his lap. With the slight movements of the ship, and Sora's warmth radiating into her, Kairi found herself slowly falling asleep.

In what felt like a blink of an eye to her, Kairi heard Sora whispering her name. She blinked up at him, and he said, "We're here."

"Already?"

"You slept the whole way here."

She yawned and stood up, walking to the door of the ship while stretching. Everyone else but Sora was outside already, staring in awe at the world around them. Kairi couldn't help but gasp too. She had never seen Disney when it wasn't in chaos and partially destroyed. Even the gummi hanger had been damaged the last time she had been there, and she couldn't help but stare at everything in awe.

She felt Sora put his hand on her shoulder, and she took a few steps down the ramp. Then, her world started spinning around her. She let out a small groan, and heard Sora call her name with worried surprise, but then everything went black.

**VVVVVV**

Kairi hadn't felt this nervous in a long time. She had been worse before, when every little thing made her jump or cringe away, but this was a different kind of nervousness. It wasn't the terrified nervous feeling that filled her whenever a man approached her or she thought Sora was going to leave her alone after she was raped, and it wasn't the same type of nervousness that possessed her the first night that she and Sora had made love together. This was more like when she thought she failed a test and was waiting to get the mark back. This was a little bit worse than that though.

She hadn't gone to school that day. There was only another week until exams started, but she didn't care that they were starting their exam reviews. The best time to go through with her plan was in the middle of the day. She faked being sick in front of her mother and Naminé in order to stay home. She had been fine at the time, but karma hit her hard about five minutes after she was alone. She spent about half an hour in the bathroom, half of the time throwing up, and the other half just lying there with a nauseous stomach. She went back to bed for another half an hour and woke up feeling a little woozy, but she didn't feel the urge to throw up again, much to her relief.

It didn't surprise Kairi that lying to Sora had been harder than lying to either Naminé or her mother. When Naminé told him that she felt sick, he practically stormed into her house and up to her room. She simply told him that she would be okay. She was just going to sleep it off. She reminded him that he had been sick the week before, so the most likely scenario was that she had gotten his flu, but it had taken a little while to manifest itself or something like that. He offered to stay home with her, but she said that he had better go to school. She needed someone to get her math homework for her. He was sending her text messages constantly. Sometimes she replied right away, other times she waited a bit to make it seem like she was asleep or something along those lines.

She wasn't at home at all though. Instead, she was on a ferry heading over to Future Island. It would take about an hour to get there, and the trip was a bit expensive, but it was worth it. Everyone on Destiny Island knew each other, and she didn't want anyone spreading around any sort of rumors before she herself knew if her suspicions were true or not.

Kairi knew that there was a slight chance that the placebo effect was what had hit her. She was thinking that something was wrong, so her body was starting to feel that way. It was mind over matter, and had been proven to be more than just a theory. Of course, that could have been wishful thinking. Odds were that what she thought was wrong with her, was exactly what was wrong with her. Sora had been sick the week before (only a day or two before he "proposed" to her), but just knew that her lie wasn't really real. She didn't think it was possible to feel symptoms that early though.

Nobody on the ferry paid her any mind. She supposed that students skipping school and going over to other islands was actually kind of common. She had a feeling that her reason for skipping was less common though.

She remembered seeing the pharmacy and making note of it when she and Sora had come there for dinner, just in case her rather accident prone boyfriend got hurt again. Now, she was glad that she memorized where it was, but for a different reason. Once the ferry docked, she made her way to it rather quickly. She ignored anyone else on the streets, hoping to god that no one she knew was there and saw her.

Kairi couldn't even describe how nervous she felt as she entered the pharmacy. She felt like she wanted to just bend over and puke right then and there, but she didn't. Looking around, she finally entered the isle that she was looking for and winced a bit. Of course they would put those right beside the condoms and the pamphlets for other types of contraception. It was like they were judging a person who had to buy the items that she did. She hesitated, wondering which ones she should get. She never bothered researching which types of tests were the best ones, the most accurate. She had seen commercials, but she knew that what she saw might not have been true, but just some sort of marketing scheme. Luckily for her, the pharmacy wasn't busy that day, so there were few people around to stare at her.

"Can I help you with something dear?"

Kairi jumped and looked around, her heart thumping painfully against her ribcage. She took several deep breaths as she stared at the old lady that spoke to her, noticing that the woman had on one of the employee shirts. She was an old woman who was probably over the age of retirement, but chose to work for some reason or another. She had a friendly face with an almost knowing expression. Of course, it wasn't hard to guess why Kairi was there.

"I just—I don't know—I—"

"Those ones there are the best," the woman said, pointing at a blue box. "They're right ninety-nine percent of the time. If you get more than one and they all say the same thing, or majority of them say the same, then it's right."

Kairi nodded, having the decency to look embarrassed as she took about ten of them into her hands. The woman laughed and said, "Honey, you don't need to make yourself broke to know. Three or four would do if you need to have more than one."

Kairi blushed and put some of them back before saying, "I just...I don't know what to do. I—I was on the pill but I just—I can't..." She felt tears coming to her eyes but she wiped them away. She couldn't cry in public, it was a rule she made when she left her house that morning, but she really, really wanted to cry.

"Come now deary, let me ring those through for you," the woman said and started leading Kairi back to the cash. "Unless there's something else you need?"

"No, this is all I came for."

The woman rang the tests through, taking care to make sure that no one else actually saw what she was scanning. Kairi was extremely thankful for this, because, though the store wasn't crowded, there was a girl, who was probably only 19, there who scowled in disgust when she had to scan some tampons through for another woman. She didn't seem like the most pleasant of people.

"I don't mean to pry honey, but do you have a boyfriend?"

Kairi looked at the little old lady, biting back her automatic response of snapping and saying it was none of her business. This woman had been nothing but kind and helpful to her. Kairi knew that it was obvious that she was still only a teenager, and even though she was 18, she was still far too young for this.

"Yes," she answered, blushing lightly. "He means the world to me, and—and I know he'd do anything for me."

The old lady smiled and brought up her total after hitting a few buttons. Kairi blinked with surprise, doing the math in her head, knowing that the five tests should have been more expensive than that.

"When I was only sixteen," the old lady said, "I had my daughter. It was hard at the time but she was worth it. I'm celebrating my anniversary with her father, who is still my husband, this Sunday. Our 50th. You seem like a good girl, not like those other ones who seem to come in to buy tests every second week or so it seems."

Kairi smiled warmly, blinking back tears and thanking the woman. She paid for the tests, insisting that the old lady keep the change as a tip, before leaving the store. She hid the bag inside of the large purse that she had brought with her.

The ferry ride seemed slower than the one to get there. She felt extremely uncomfortable, holding her bag close to her, and she was hungry. She was afraid to eat though, knowing that she might throw it all back up afterward.

Her phone buzzed against her leg and she opened it, staring at the text message that she received. Like most of them from today it was from Sora, inquiring about her health.

**Hey, u ok? I can skip out of school if u want me 2.**

She smiled slightly at his never-ending worry for her. She didn't know what she would do if the tests came back positive. She didn't know what he would do. Shaking her head, she concentrated on texting him back.

**Just woke up. Stay at school 4 me k? Feeling a bit better. Goin 4 a shower.**

It was an outright lie, something she would never be able to do over the phone or to his face. She just didn't want him to know, not yet. Not until she knew. Her phone buzzed again, and she looked at his reply.

**K. txt u later. Luv u.**

Kairi giggled a bit for no reason, and sent a reply saying that she loved him too. She took comfort in knowing that he would stay by her side no matter what, but she didn't know how happy he was going to be. Even if he hadn't loved her and this had happened, she knew that he would have stuck with her. It was just the type of person he was.

She finally got home and kicked off her shoes, putting them back exactly where they had been earlier so no one would be any wiser. She took a deep breath, going up to the bathroom with the five tests and closing the door behind her. It took her a few minutes to figure out exactly what to do, but she figured it out quickly enough. Then she sat on the edge of the tub, nervously tapping her cellphone, as the timer she set on it ticked down.

Her phone buzzed again, and she realized that it had nearly been an hour since she last heard from Sora. She wasn't all that surprised that he was texting her again. The poor boy was probably making himself sick with worry. She could feel it in her heart. Now that she thought about it, he probably felt all her nervousness and fear, and that was why he was texting her so much.

**Are you okay?**

She was vaguely aware that he typed every word out instead of just using net-speak, implying he wanted a serious answer. She started typing, but jumped as the alarm went off, dropping her phone onto the carpet that was in front of the tub.

Taking a deep breath, she decided to get it over with right away. It was just like deciding whether or not to get into a cold pool. The options were to slowly get in and get used to it while going, or to force yourself all in at once and get the shock over with. She always chose the second option.

Kairi forced herself to grab the closest plastic stick and looked at the tiny monitor on it. She felt her stomach plummet, as it didn't say the word 'positive'. It said the word 'pregnant'. She grabbed one of the boxes, looking at the results. Pregnant or Not Pregnant was the two options. For a moment, she wondered if the 'not' part on it just wasn't working, so she looked at all of the other ones. Each of them said the same thing, and she knew there was no way that all of them were broken or just not working.

She slumped onto the floor, letting the tears build up in her eyes as she held one of the tests so tightly that she ended up snapping it in half. She was shaking, tears silently streaming down her face, when her phone buzzed again.

**Kairi, are you okay?**

She flipped her phone around, and started typing back.

**I'm **

She paused, her finger hovering over the p button. It would have been so easy to just type it, so easy to get it out of the way. But she couldn't. Not only was she scared, but she knew he deserved more than that. She had to tell him face to face, not over a text message, or even oven the phone. He deserved more than that. Her sobs became audible as she texted him back, and then hugged her knees to her chest.

**I'm fine. **

**VVVVVV**

Kairi groaned as her eyes slid open. She was staring at what she assumed was a white ceiling, but the room she was in was a shadowed green colour, and the bed was far too comfortable to be a hospital bed.

She realized that she had been stripped down to just her shorts and her tank top, warm blankets resting on top of her to keep her comfortable. She looked around and saw Sora lying beside her on the large bed. He was holding her hand, a worried expression on his face even as he slept. Judging from how dark it was, she was willing to bet that it was after midnight.

She moved to sit up, but as she did, Sora's face scrunched up and his eyes snapped open. They stared at each other in silence for a moment before he sat up quickly and asked, "Are you okay?"

Kairi opened her mouth to answer, remembering how he had sent her those same words when she found out she was definitely pregnant. Before she could speak, Sora's fingers brushed her cheeks, wiping away the tears that she didn't even know where there. She let out a shuddering sob before moving into his arms, sobbing onto his chest.

"Hey, it's okay," he whispered as he hugged her close, rocking her back and fourth while kissing her on the forehead. "I'm here. It's okay."

"I'm so tired," she muttered to him. "I just—I haven't been sleeping right and I've been feeling a little sick."

"You should have told me," Sora gently scolded. "Have you been having nightmares?" She nodded, but he didn't say anything else, opting to hold her instead. It was something that she was thankful for.

She wasn't lying this time. She had been having nightmares about him leaving her, about her dying in labour, about a screaming baby, and about so many other things that could go horribly wrong. The one that she kept seeing in her head though was a blue haired man touching her, kissing her, raping her. In her dream, she didn't stab herself and she wasn't healed. The baby came out with blue hair and a murderous smile and Sora left her, disgusted, and then _he_ came back and tortured her, raped her, and it happened all over again. She always woke up terrified after that before she reminded herself that he was dead.

She didn't sleep well, and on top of that, she always had to throw up in the morning. It always came at the same time, just when she was about to get out of the shower. She always left the shower running so that no one would hear the sounds of her throwing up. Not only that, but she really was feeling tired and sore lately. Her entire body ached, but she was a bit embarrassed to admit that her breasts always felt tender and sore. She supposed it was normal though, since her body was changing fairly rapidly. She had taken to reading different things about pregnancy, and a lot of development happened in the first two weeks after conception while it was a in a germinal state, and again from two weeks to two months as an embryo, so it came as no surprise to her that her body was so sore and tired.

She didn't even attempt to tell Sora about how tired and sore she felt. She kept up exactly like normal so that he wouldn't notice, but one thing that she could not hide was the fact that she had basically no sex drive recently, feeling too tired and aching too much. She saw his worried looks, but she couldn't bring herself to tell him. She felt a little insecure, like if she wasn't intimate with him, he would lose interest in her, and she tried to lead them in that direction, but Sora was the one to back off. He said that he knew she wasn't feeling her best, so she shouldn't be trying to do something that she didn't really want to do for him. She assured him that she wanted to, but he assured her that it was okay if she didn't because he loved her, not her body.

She had never felt more disgusted with herself than at that moment. He was Sora, of course he would understand if she didn't feel up to sex. It wasn't like he liked to be jumped when he was sick. Actually, Sora was a big baby when he was sick, and he just liked someone to sit with him, or in her case, hold him. She felt like she had been the one trying to use him. He hadn't been angry or anything else. Instead, he settled for just holding her close that night, a smile on his face. She had never been more thankful for such a great guy in her life.

Still, Kairi couldn't help but notice him staring at her suspiciously, as if able to tell that there was something different already. She was only six weeks along, there was certainly no bump yet, there wouldn't be a really visible one until she was about four months along.

Even now, as she pushed herself to him while crying, her body ached and she felt so tired. It wasn't painful really, she was able to stand it, but everything, especially her stomach and chest, felt tender and sore.

Sora suddenly moved them so that they were lying down. He cradled her to him and said, "It's warm, lets get these off of you. Then go to sleep baby." He took her shorts and tank top off of her and tucked her under the blankets, curling up underneath beside her and wrapping his arms around her.

Kairi knew that he wasn't doing it on purpose, but feeling his hand subconsciously rub her stomach actually soothed her a bit. She let out a contented sigh. She wanted to tell him, she really did, but she couldn't. Not right then. She was just too tired, too upset.

She vowed to do it in the morning.

**VVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

It's been a very busy week, so no updates for you! haha

They're at Disney now though, so we're going to be getting into some more stuff than this specific type of drama. The actual action is a few chapters away, because there needs to be events to prompt this action.

In the original, the readers found out that Kairi was pregnant the same time Sora did. Now you guys know, and Sora doesn't (and won't, for a few chapters).

Did anyone else see Pirates of the Caribbean 4? I thought it wasn't as good as the first thing, but it wasn't all that bad. It made me laugh how there actually were tons of well placed references to the first three movies without being too obvious. I think that they should have added in two things for Jack to say: One a huge rant that makes little sense until you think about it about five times, and some sort of reference to rum.

I like how they set it up to either be the end, or go on to make two more like they want to. That way there are two separate story arcs. I think that it'd be better if they did do that, so it's not just this big 3 story arch and one random one afterwards.

I mean, these stories have four parts, but it's all the same story arc.

Anyway, thank you to everyone who reviewed! I know I say it every time, but I really do appreciate it. Thank you to: Shire Folk, Jad826, The 666th necrophiliac, Shifuni, DaniPotterLovesGod, LordSilegna, Q-A the Authoress, Twisting Beliefs, 16afoster, and Colonel Mycroft. You guys are all awesome!

Remember to leave a review!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	8. Impossible

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Seven – Impossible_

Kairi had to thank someone out there for letting her have a good morning. She woke up, ready to spring out of bed and run to the washroom to throw up whatever she had eaten the day before. Actually, she had been ready to toss everything on the floor because she had no idea where the bathroom was. She still felt tired when she woke up, but instead of feeling sick, she felt ravenous. That was most likely because she had skipped supper the night before because she had passed out. Actually, now that she thought back, she had fallen asleep on the gummi ship and hadn't eaten lunch either.

Automatically, a thrill of fear passed over her as she stood in the shower. She had only eaten breakfast yesterday. She set her hand on her stomach, letting the bar of soap fall to the floor. She didn't want to hurt it by not eating and not giving it enough nutrients.

She hoped that no one would go through the bag that she had brought with her. She had a thin binder with dozens of different printouts about pregnancy. She knew that her friends would find out soon, but she didn't want anyone, especially Sora, to find out that way. She also didn't want anyone else to know before he did. It was only fair.

After showering, she threw on her clothes and frowned. She loved her new clothes, but she would only be able to wear them for so long. She wondered if, along with the magic to keep them clean and in tact, one of the good fairies (or anyone else with powerful magic) could make it so that it would stretch out, so that she wouldn't have to start wearing a horrible, flowered muumuu or something. Logically, Kairi knew that there were many stylish outfits made for pregnant woman, but her mind was ignoring that act for now.

Sora was waiting for her when she got out of the bathroom. He was lying on the bed with his clothes and armour on, his eyes closed like he was asleep, but she knew that he wasn't. She sat down next to him, and he moved his hand from in front of his eyes and looked at her with a smile. "Morning."

"Morning," she repeated, moving so that her head was lying on his chest. She thought about telling him then and there, but something stopped her. She couldn't do it, she couldn't tell him.

"You hungry? You didn't really get to eat much yesterday," Sora asked her while running a hand up and down her arm.

"Starving," she replied honestly. To back up her statement, her stomach chose that time to grumble loudly.

Sora laughed happily and wrapped his arm around her, moving so that when he sat up, he brought her with him. He placed a small kiss on her forehead before he rested his own on hers, staring into her eyes with a smile.

She giggled a bit and said, "What?"

His smiled widened and he said, "Nothing. I just—you're...I dunno. There's just something...different about you lately. Not a bad different. You're just, I dunno. You're beautiful. That's nothing new though, I guess. And well—maybe I'm imagining it but—never mind."

She giggled at his stuttering, but before she could say anything, her stomach let out a loud rumble, demanding attention. It was loud enough for even Sora to hear clearly. He laughed and got off of the bed, pulling her with him. "To the kitchen! Before you get so hungry you go all cannibalistic on me."

She laughed and said, "You had better. A Sora-steak might actually be good if I don't get something in me soon."

"If I was Roxas, I'd totally turn that into a dirty joke," he said, knowing full well that it was true. Roxas had a way of not only making everything into a dirty joke, but up making someone else think of it just by staring at them and grinning. Really, in Sora's 'professional' opinion, his twin was just sexually frustrated and it was all he thought about. That was just Sora's opinion though.

"If you were Roxas you wouldn't be getting any and you'd be so sexually frustrated that you would turn everything into dirty jokes," she pointed out. Sora laughed so much that his back started to ache, not just at her words, but the fact that she had come to the same conclusion that he had.

They continued on to the kitchen in silence after he calmed down, not an awkward one but a comfortable one, and what they found there, needless to say, amused and confused them both immensely.

Naminé was standing on the table wielding a baguette, which was pointed at Riku, who looked like he was ready to throw a plate of eggs at her. Roxas was sitting with a completely stunned look on his face, drenched in orange juice, Midori had a piece of bacon in her hair, Donald looked so mad that Sora swore the egg was cooking on his head, and Huey, Dewey and Louie were laughing hysterically. When they entered the room, everyone froze and was just staring at them.

"I don't want to know," Kairi decided, "I really don't."

"I certainly do," a higher voice said. Sora and Kairi moved out of the way as a very unimpressed Minnie Mouse walked in, her arms folded in front of her and a frown on her face. She looked angry, but it was nothing compared to Daisy. Her anger was enough to instantly turn Donald's anger into fear, and to cause his three nephews to hide behind him.

"Well?" Daisy demanded. "What happened?"

Sora backed slowly out of the kitchen, not wanting to be caught in the duck's wrath. Kairi frowned, folded her arms in front of her, pouted and said, "It's going to take forever to get in there. I'm hungry."

They heard a chuckle and looked around as Mickey Mouse appeared. He looked into the kitchen with amusement, shaking his head and saying, "There's a second kitchen upstairs. You can get something to eat there. I imagine you're hungry."

"Thank you," Kairi replied, smiling instantly. She didn't even blush when her stomach rumbled loudly again. She really didn't care how loud she was by that point of time.

Mickey led the way to wards the staircase and up to the next floor. On the way there, he glanced back at them quickly and asked, "So, you feeling better now Kairi?"

"Yes, a lot," she answered. "I just felt so tired and sick all yesterday. Once I eat, I'm sure that I'll be good."

"It must be something going around," Sora said thoughtfully. "Because I've felt a little sick for a while now too."

"You have?" she asked, looking up at him with surprise.

"Yeah, it's the weirdest thing. I always wake up feeling a bit sick, and then I have to keep laying down, because I feel like I'm about to throw up, but then it goes away and I'm good for the rest of the day. It's really weird. Today's the only day in a while it didn't happen," he said with a shrug. "Not sure why though. It's weird."

"Yeah, weird," Kairi agreed half-heartedly. She had a feeling that she knew why he was feeling a little sick. She knew Sora's sleeping pattern almost as well as her own, so she knew that when she was up and in the shower, he was usually just waking up. What he was probably feeling was her being sick. It wouldn't have been the first time something odd like that had happened. There were times before when one of them was sick, so was the other. People assumed it was just because they were stupid enough to kiss each other when the other was sick and things like that, which was true, but sometimes it happened when they weren't even together. She knew for a fact that their hearts were connected so strongly that they could feel the other if the emotion or physical response was strong enough.

Now that Kairi thought about it, that was probably how Sora had known that her libido was at an all time low.

"Well, if Kairi was really sick, that's probably why," Mickey stated allowed, as if his sensitive, massive ears somehow picked up her very thoughts. "You're both connected that strongly. It wasn't enough to make you physically ill, but enough to make you aware that she was ill by feeling it. I imagine it only happens with really strong feelings too."

"Is that true?" Sora asked. She looked up at him and saw the worry on his face. Reluctantly she nodded her head, but didn't offer up anything else. She didn't want to tell him in front of anyone else, let along King Mickey.

"Now, this is better," Mickey said jovially as he entered the kitchen. It was neat and tidy, with only Max and Goofy at the table.

"Morning Goofy, Max," Sora said as he pulled out the seat for Kairi. He hadn't even thought about the simple gesture, it was just a habit. Kairi still smiled at him and thanked him though. The brooms that Kairi hadn't noticed brought over more plates of food, setting them on the table.

Kairi decided not to be self-conscious of how much she ate that day. She knew that, most likely in the second trimester, she would start getting cravings. She was already feeling hungry a lot of the time, but she had a feeling that she was going to feel like she was _starving_ most of the time. It was Sora's baby afterall, there was no way it wouldn't like to eat. She figured that she might as well get used to people staring at her when she ate. Already, she was telling herself that she would need restraint when it came to cravings. She knew that eating everything she wanted would not be good for either her or her baby. At the moment though, she didn't care that much, as long as her morning sickness stopped.

None of them questioned her appetite that morning, and Kairi assumed that they just attributed it to her lack of eating yesterday. She helped herself to a large helping of eggs, bacon, toast, fruit, sausage, and pancakes with some milk. Sora shot her an amused look, but didn't say anything about it. She was in a good mood, and he didn't want to ruin it.

"It's really nice out," Mickey said after they were finished eating. "Why don't you two head outside? I wanted to talk to you all this morning, but if I know Minnie and Daisy, they'll have everyone else cleaning downstairs."

"Sleeping in for the win!" Sora cried out happily before he stood up. "Wanna go outside, Iri?"

She nodded her head eagerly and said, "I didn't get to see it when it wasn't destroyed, and you go on about how nice it is. I want to see for myself." She quickly stood up, stretching her muscles. She felt a lot better now that she had actually eaten something. She walked beside Sora, following him since she didn't actually know how to get outside. She got to take in a lot of the castle though, enjoying the rather magical-feeling place.

"You know, there's a theme park not far from here," Sora said to her suddenly as he started heading down a set of stairs. "We should go sometime."

"That would be fun," she agreed. "And then we can—oh wow." She stared in awe at the garden as they walked outside. The last time she had been out there, it had been in a state of destruction thanks to Carverin and Sarlio. Now it was bright and green and full of life. The sun was warm, and there was a light breeze to keep them from getting too hot. It was perfect.

She took Sora's hand and the two walked in silence, just enjoying the weather, the view and each other. After a little while though, Kairi came to a sudden stop and leaned close to a rather colourful butterfly on large, white flowers. Sora knelt down beside her and gently picked one of the smaller white lilies, causing Kairi's eyes to widen with alarm.

"We're not allowed to do that," she told him quickly, although she didn't really know if it was true.

"They won't mind one," he insisted. "They have dozens." He looked at it before smiling and putting it behind her ear. She blushed a bit and he said, "Don't worry, no bugs."

"I love lilies," she admitted, gently touching one of the soft petals that were in her hair. She loved when he did random things like that. Many guys called him a sap, but he was the one with a long-term girlfriend. Then again, she wasn't even sure if he was aware of how sweet he was being. Sora was just so incredibly random, that he probably hadn't given a single thought about taking the flower.

"I know you do," he replied as he sat down, forcing her to sit beside her on the ground. He stretched out and yawned before turning to her and frowning.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked, not liking when he frowned for no reason. "Sora?"

"Are you okay?" he asked out after a moment of silence.

She was surprised by the question and said, "Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

"I dunno," he admitted. "I just—I just get the feeling that something's wrong. And I want you to know that you can tell me anything Kairi. I'll always be here for you, I promise."

Tears welded up in her eyes again as he spoke and she had to look away so that he wouldn't see. She wasn't fast enough though, and he gently, but firmly grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him again. She let out a small whimper before moving into his arms again.

"Kairi," he said slowly as he wrapped his arms around her gently, letting her rest her head on his shoulder to cry. One of his hands rubbed her back in circles, something that had always helped sooth her since before he had even met her, and his other hand gently stroked through her hair.

"You love me, right Sora?" she asked him.

He had to strain to hear her, because she was whispering so lowly, but when he registered what she had asked, he said, "You know I do. You mean more to me than anything else in the world Kairi. I thought I proved that to you over and over again."

"No matter what?" she questioned between sniffles, knowing that he had proved it in the past.

"No matter what," he repeated confidently. "What's this about Iri?"

She opened her mouth to speak several times, but every time she did she just ended up letting out a strangled sob. A few of the knights wandered by, looking at Sora and Kairi curiously. Sora knew that Kairi wouldn't want people she didn't know to see her like she was, so he suggested going inside for a while. When she didn't answer, he picked her up and started walking in (she had always been almost disconcertingly light). She didn't protest.

Once they were in the room that they were going to share again, he sat down with her on the bed and said, "What's wrong Kairi? Don't tell me nothing, because I know it's not nothing."

She looked up at him and said, "I—I—you see I—and you and—I'm..." She was trying, but the words wouldn't come out of her mouth right. She had never been more scared around him in her life. It was like something was physically stopping her from telling him that they were going to have a baby.

Her face went pure white all of a sudden. The entire time, she had known that she would be having a baby, but at the same time she had completely skipped over that fact. She had only been thinking that she was pregnant and how she wasn't sure she could get through it. Her mind hadn't yet comprehended that, if she chose to keep what was growing inside of her, that she would be a mother. That she would be in charge of caring for another little life.

"Kairi," Sora said urgently when he saw her go pale. He helped her move so that her head was resting between her legs so that she wouldn't faint. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me now. I—you don't want to break up, do you?"

She slowly shook her head negatively, and he let out a sigh of relief. When she had started stuttering earlier, he was sure that was what she wanted to get out. He knelt down on the floor so that his head was even to her own. He just knelt beside her until her breathing calmed down and she sat up a bit. She looked over at him and said, "You'll be the first to know when I can tell someone Sora. I promise."

"You never told anyone else what was bothering you?"

"No," she answered honestly. "I—I think I'm going to get myself cleaned up again."

Sora stood up as she did, ready to catch her if she passed out. He placed a hand on her shoulder when he was sure she was steady and asked, "Is there anything that I can do?"

She looked thoughtful for a moment before smiling a bit and asked, "I don't suppose you could get me a drink, could you?"

"You bet, what do you want?"

"I could go with a Popsi or something," she answered after a moment of thought. "Or anything else fizzy or sugary."

He nodded, gave her a quick kiss on the lips and said, "You better still be conscious when I get back."

She laughed and said, "I will be." She waited as he closed the door, sure he was gone before she moved to the bathroom. She turned on the water, but as she did, she suddenly spun around towards the toilet and threw up. Kairi knew that Sora would probably come running back any minute to check on her, no doubt feeling the wave of nausea himself. She groaned and put a hand on her stomach, whispering, "You're not going to make this easy on me, are you?"

She almost wished that she could have gotten an answer back.

**VVVVVVVV**

They later found themselves inside of King Mickey's office. It was only Sora, Roxas, Naminé and Kairi for the moment, given that Mickey said it was a private matter involving the four of them at first, but when Riku and Midori were needed, they would be called in.

Mickey was sitting with a straight posture and a serious look on his face, letting the four of them know that whatever he wanted to discuss was very serious. To be honest, all of them felt like they were sitting in front of a stern parent or a teacher, about to get a lecture for something stupid they had done. It was a little nerve-wracking.

Minnie was seated beside Mickey, looking equally as serious as him, but at the same time a little more open and warmer. Sora felt like they were about to be interrogated with the good cop-bad cop routine.

"Well, you all know that we brought you here for an issue regarding Kairi," Mickey said, getting right to the point. They all nodded and he continued, "A while ago, Radiant Garden finally managed to get their government set up properly again, a democracy. However, they still wanted a figurehead to rule them because of how seriously everyone takes Radiant Garden's heritage and history. So in their minds, the only possibly suitable person to take the role as the figurehead of Radiant Garden would naturally be the one who was originally supposed to rule. The Princess."

"But Kairi's the Princ—oh," Roxas said, his eyes widening with realization. "Oh."

"Oh is right," Mickey said with a nod. "Leon got a hold of me. The government originally offered to have someone who Kairi was familiar with, me, try to encourage her to go back to Radiant Garden. I told Leon that it would never work. Of course, their other ideas were things like kidnapping, blackmail, legal loopholes, and all kinds of fun things. That's why I waited until after I knew Kairi was 18 before contacting you. She's a legal adult, there's no loophole that can get her to go back."

Kairi felt her breath catch in her throat and she whispered, "They were going to force me to go back?"

Mickey nodded and said, "Yes. Then they would have forced you to marry the person of their choice."

"They can't do that," Sora snapped, holding Kairi's hand almost possessively.

"Not now that she's a legal adult," he agreed. "Before though, Kairi was technically taken from her home, and she could have called a ward of the state, or something like that. They could claim that she was kidnapped, and force her to come back or her adopted parents—mother could have been charged."

"What about now?" the girl in question asked. "What about now that I'm an adult?"

"You can renounce the throne officially," Mickey informed her. "You don't have to go there to do it. You can sign a document saying that you renounce your right and claim to the throne. They will want a really good reason for you to do so. They're going to try to pull every stop to get you back to Radiant Garden, Kairi."

Kairi bit her lip and subconscious rested her hand on her stomach, a gesture that was noticed by no one except for Queen Minnie. She stared at her oddly for a moment before a look of suspicion appeared on her face. Minnie masked it quickly though.

Suddenly, a grin appeared on Kairi's face as she asked, "What about being engaged to a prince of another world?" She held up her hand and showed them the engagement ring Sora had given her.

Mickey looked a little surprised, and Minnie smiled broadly and said, "What a beautiful ring! Congratulations!"

Sora and Kairi both thanked them before Sora asked, "I know Twilight's Destiny doesn't really exist anymore, so would that count?"

"I don't see why it wouldn't," Mickey said, once his surprise had settled. "Twilight's Destiny, though a very secretive and almost isolated world, was still very powerful and influential when it existed, even just in legend, since no one really knew if other worlds existed or not. It's not surprising, since the power of Kingdom Hearts does originate there. That should definitely get you in the clear. Besides, Radiant Garden is very strict on their traditions, and tradition there clearly states that, for the prince or princess to claim the throne, they had to be engaged by the time they're sixteen, and married by the time they're eighteen. Another reason why I waited until I knew Kairi was eighteen. Traditionally, that makes Kairi's claim to the throne void, but they would probably ignore that in this case. An engagement to another Prince would definitely do it though."

"That does create another problem though," Minnie explained, "and that's why we asked for you and Roxas to be her, Naminé."

"That's right," Mickey agreed. "See, if they can't have the Princess that Ansem claimed as his heir, they're going to go straight to the next acceptable option, which is—"

"Her biological cousin," Naminé said slowly. "I don't understand though; how does Ansem work into this?"

"Ansem was your uncle. He was the King, and your mothers were his sisters. He never did have children. Kairi, you were born before Naminé, so he made you his heir. Naminé, you would be the next option though."

Minnie said, "Leon said that they were going to try and get Kairi back soon, otherwise we would have waited until you were eighteen as well Naminé. However—"

"They're not going to stop, are they?" Naminé asked after a moment. "Not until they have their royal figurehead, are they?"

"No. They'd probably go as far as, I don't know, try to kidnap Kairi or you and erase your memories or something. We have Kairi figured out now, but they'll come after you next, and you're not eighteen. We got Leon to do some background checks, and nowhere does it say that you were officially dead, so we can't claim your not who they think you are. A DNA sample would void that. We could try to hide you until you are eighteen, but I can't imagine you going along with that."

Naminé looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully before she slowly asked, "Wow, they really are this serious about getting a person who won't even have any real power, aren't they?"

"Probably not," Mickey answered. "Persistent bas—"

Minnie coughed.

The blonde girl smiled a bit and asked, "What happens if I do disappear and then say no after I'm eighteen? What will happen to Radiant Garden?"

"While it is just more or less a figurehead position, there is a lot of power that goes with it," Mickey explained. "If the wrong person got in there and became the ruler, they could eventually dissolve the current government and rule as a tyrant. That's not my biggest worry though."

"The Door to Darkness," Sora said suddenly, jerking up in his seat. "If someone becomes King or Queen, and they don't have the right intentions, they can try to find a way to open it, and we might never know until it's too late."

"You got it," Mickey nodded. "I know it seems like a little selfish of us, like we're playing with another world, but if neither of you two go in, we have to find a way to influence who the leader will be. We can't let the wrong person get access to that door."

Naminé bit her lip before a determined look appeared on her face and she said, "I'll do it."

"What?" Sora, Kairi and Roxas asked at the same time.

She looked at them, her face set sternly as she said, "I'll take the throne. There's no one better to watch that door than one of us, and you know it. The only way I'm not doing it is if you decided to, Kairi."

The redhead felt like she was on the spot. She didn't want her cousin to sacrifice her freedom to choose her future, but Kairi couldn't step up to the plate and do it.

"There's one thing, Kairi," Minnie spoke suddenly, before the girl to give her final answer. "When Leon was looking into things, he found something. It was a document saying that you were engaged to a Duke's son. If you go back, that will be reinstated."

Her face went pale. "They'll make me marry someone I don't know?"

Kairi knew in the pit of her stomach that, while the officials in Radiant Garden would have been willing to let the fact that she was already eighteen go, the fact that she was eighteen, pregnant, and not married, would be something that they wouldn't allow. They were willing to kidnap her and force her to marry someone she didn't even know. She had no doubt that they'd force her to abort her child.

Abortion was honestly a thought that she had entertained at first, but she wouldn't dare do that, at least not without Sora's okay on the subject. In all honesty, if she had been pregnant after she had been raped, she probably would have gone through with an abortion. Still, this was Sora's baby, and the more she thought about it, the more she realized how stupid she was for even considering it. The thought of someone forcing her to kill her baby honestly frightened her. She couldn't do it.

"Yes." There was no hesitance in the female mouse's voice as she answered. Queen Minnie Mouse was a lot more intelligent than most people gave her credit for. She knew how many monarchies worked in different worlds, and she knew that Radiant Garden's was one of the strictest ones.

"What about me?" Naminé asked curiously. "Was my life planned out before I could really read?"

"Like I said earlier, we didn't find anything," Mickey said with a shrug. "Maybe, but I doubt it. We had Tron look through as many files as possible, and if a computer program can't find it, I doubt we can either."

"But I'd still have to be married before I turn eighteen for them to basically keep their mouths shut," Naminé said thoughtfully. "That only gives me a few months. How does that work anyway? I thought you had to be a legal adult to get married."

"A princess," Minnie said dully, as if reciting an old, boring book, "is both a legal adult all her life, but she is also nothing. Her only right is to be what her father wants her to be, and then please her husband in any way necessary."

"Wow, that's not controlling at all," Roxas said sarcastically. He glanced over at Naminé before looking at Minnie and Mickey and asking, "So, would I be good enough for these officials? I am a Prince from Twilight's Destiny too."

"Well, if you're already married, there's not much they can do about that, is there?" Mickey replied.

Roxas shrugged and looked back at Naminé and said, "So, do you want to?"

"You'd do that for me?"

He looked at her as if she was insane for even asking the question. "Naminé, you know I'd do anything for you. I may not be as much of a sap as Sora, but that doesn't mean that I care about you any less. You know I love you."

A smile spread across Naminé's face before she turned to Mickey and Minnie. "I'll do it...no, we'll do it. Roxas and I can handle anything any silly politician throws at us."

"It's up to you Kairi," Minnie said kindly.

Kairi looked over at Sora and said, "I can't rule there. I can't. I want to stay with you. I just…I can't."

"It's okay," Sora replied as he slid his arm around her shoulder. "No one blames you."

"Looks like Roxas and I get to play King and Queen then," Naminé said. Roxas groaned a little bit and she nudged him. "No backing out now, you already promised. Besides, who better to guard the Door to Darkness than the ones who were created again right in front of it?"

Roxas stared at her with confusion until he realized what she was talking about. He and Naminé had both been dormant inside of Sora and Kairi until Sora stabbed himself in front of the Door to Darkness. Then their souls that had been in Sora and Kairi's hearts (in Sora's body) had been released and they had been given physical bodies. He smirked a bit at this and said, "You're right. We can do it!"

"You do realize that means you have to start planning a wedding ASAP, right?" Kairi reminded them, grinning a bit.

Naminé's eyes widened and she said, "That's right. It'll have to be soon so we get them out of our faces for a while."

Sora smirked a bit and Roxas felt him brush his subconscious. The two could still communicate telepathically when they really wanted to, though they rarely ever did. Except for during tests.

'_I get engaged first, but you still get married first. I think you deserve it though.'_

'_Why?'_ Roxas thought back, almost warily.

'_Because she said that she was waiting for marriage.'_

Roxas blinked once, and then twice, before suddenly letting out a whoop. Everyone else looked at him like he was crazy, but Sora just started laughing.

Mickey, Minnie, Kairi and Naminé stared at them all oddly. It was obvious that the amount of serious information that they had been given drove the Hikari twins to sever their last threads of sanity.

**VVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Early apologies, because here comes a rant.

I'm going to state this right here, because I'm getting a little tired of having to tell different people over and over again, if you look at the genre of this particular fanfiction, you will notice that the first one is **romance**, and the second one is **drama**. That is exactly how this is going. People have been asking 'action?', 'how about action now?' and similar things, but the action isn't what's important in this particular story. It will be there, because if I could have a third genre, it would be there, BUT the romance and drama come first. I suck at writing action, so it's not what I tend to focus on. There are some really good fics out there though that DO focus on that. So please, please, please, pleeaassee stop asking about it. If only for my own sanity. It will come, I promise. None of this is filler, it's all important to the over all story, which arcs over all four fics, but none of you have seen the end one, so you wouldn't realize how it's all pieced together yet. Most people are pretty good in reviews, it's the PMs that I get asking about it.

Okay, I'm done ranting. Sorry again, I shouldn't be ranting, because I'm grateful for every single review I get, but it was driving me crazy. On to other things.

So yeah, both Kairi and Namine got to choose, because it would have been selfish for Kairi to say no to Radiant Garden only for Namine not to have a choice because she's not legally an adult yet. I tried to think of a good reason Namine would want to go off and be queen, and I realized that the Door to Darkness, in the castle, was a good a reason as any. That and she's the Queen. It's more like the Queen of England though, because it's more of just a figurehead position than anything.

Fair warning, next chapter we get to explore the randomness that is Sora's mind a bit, and it's going to be slightly OOC from the game version of him. That's to be expected though, because he's gone through different things in this fic.

In the chapter after that, you're going to learn something else that's going to effect them. Kind of funny how everything is happening at once, isn't it? Yes, that's a hint to how all the non-action is relevant.

Also, I can confidently say that the fourth story has a LOT more action in it, starting in the early chapters. That's a while away though.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. That includes: Shifuni, Colonel Mycroft, Jad826, The 666th necrophiliac, Trainalf, Twisting Beliefs, 16afoster, Q-A the Authoress, LordSilegna, shadowwolf547, and Eddie Camp!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	9. New Divide

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Eight – New Divide_

Sora knelt in front of a stone fountain, his head leaning on the cold stone as he listened to the water splash back into the basin. His knees and elbows were skinned form where he tripped and fell to the ground, bits of gravel digging into the light wounds. He didn't notice that though. He didn't notice any sort of physical pain. His heart was beating rapidly, like it was about the burst out of his chest, his breathing was strained, and there was sweat on his brow from his run.

Never once in his life had he felt such an array of negative emotions running through him. Not when he found out his mother was dead, not when he found out that Roxas was his brother who had been killed when they were only babies, and not even when he had found Jorix raping a near-dead Kairi. All those events had brought up horrible memories, horrible thoughts and feelings, especially the last one. They made him sad, they made him want to rage and tear something apart (which he had in the case of the latter). This though, this was a completely different story all together. One that would have been a happy story, if only it had happened a few years later.

Sora could barely pinpoint what he was feeling, there were so many things rushing through his mind. He knew one thing though, the guilt that was stabbing him was almost paralyzing. Mixed with that was a horrible concoction of panic, horror, disbelief, shame, fear, and a lot of self-hatred and anger.

He could feel something else too. He could feel the sadness and anger coming from Kairi as well, burning into him. Those were nothing compared to the searing disappointment that he could feel coming from her through their connection. Disappointment that was aimed at him. He couldn't blame her. This was his fault.

He managed to push himself up so that he was leaning with his back against the fountain instead of face-first on the ground, pulling his knees up to his chest, and hiding his face against them as the tears appeared. He was so careless, so stupid. So, so, so, so, so, so stupid.

That was something he was sure no one would deny.

**VVVVVV**

Sora wasn't really awake yet, but he was aware that he wasn't exactly asleep. His eyes were closed, and he had no intention of moving, but at the same time, he was well aware of the real, physical world. How couldn't he be, with Kairi's warm body curled up next to him, her pajama-clad body pressing against his own?

Suddenly though, he was ripped out of his peaceful slumber as Kairi jerked out of his arms. He sat up quickly, watching as she stumbled out of the bed, tripping over the sheets that had wrapped around her feet. Sora was about to get up and help her, but she was quick in moving, rushing into the bathroom.

Not fully comprehending what had just happened, he stared at the open bathroom door with confusion as a strange sound came from beyond it. He blinked slowly before his mind finally caught up, and he realized that it was the sound of her vomiting.

He sprung out of the bed quickly, almost tripping over the blankets that remained on the bed after her ungraceful rush from it moments before. He slid on the dark floor and almost crashed into the sink in his mad dash to get to her. She didn't even notice though, her small frame hunched over the toilet as she breathed in and out deeply.

Sora knelt down next to her, pulling her hair back not a moment too soon as she threw up again. He looked around for a moment, grabbing the hairband that was on the counter and pulled her hair back with it. He moved one hand to her shoulder to help steady her, and the other rubbed her back in circles.

Kairi let out a small sob as her body shook from being on the cold floor of the bathroom. She hated being sick. Any time it happened, her eyes instantly started welling with tears, though she could usually hold them back. She couldn't stop now though.

"It's okay," Sora whispered as if talking too loudly would make her sicker. "It's okay Iri. Do you want me to go and get someone?"

"No," she muttered and took a few deep breaths. She gagged a few more times, but there was nothing left in her stomach to throw back up. Finally, she grabbed some toilet paper and wiped her mouth off, flushing the toilet after Sora helped her stand up. They stood there for a moment, Sora with his hair stuck up in angles that were even odd for him, only in his black pajama pants, and Kairi pale, breathing in and out to calm herself down as she shook from the cold, only dressed in a pair of short shorts and a thin tank top.

"Come on," Sora said, realizing that she was shivering. "Get back in bed."

"I need mouth wash," she muttered, moving by him towards the blue liquid. Sora stood beside her silently as she rinsed her mouth, and pressed his hand to her lower back to urge her towards the bed once she was done.

Sora looked down at her as she moved into the blankets again. He didn't really know how to handle Kairi when she was ill. He worried, but when he was there, he didn't know exactly what to do.

"Sora," she mumbled, breaking him out of his thoughts. She reached up and grabbed his arm, pulling him towards her. "It's only six in the morning, sleep more, or you'll be cranky later."

He let her guide him back into the bed, but he didn't lay down. Instead, he stared down at her, cerulean eyes practically burning her skin. She shuddered uncomfortably and asked, "What?"

"I feel you get sick nearly every morning," Sora said slowly. "But you just—you seem fine whenever I see you. You seem fine now. That's not—Kairi, that's not normal. Something's wrong."

Kairi stared at him for a moment before she sat up, her eyes quickly moving down to her hands. A sickening feeling passed through him as he realized that she knew why she was sick.

"Tell me," he urged her. "You can trust me."

"I know," she replied with a shaky voice. "I—I…"

"Yeah?"

She was silent for a moment, staring at her hands. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she jerked quickly, looking at him with wide, tear-filled eyes before she quickly said, "I'm pregnant."

His hand quickly retreated from her shoulder as if burned. Sora stared at her for a moment, his eyes searching her face as if trying to judge the validity of her statement.

"What?"

She sniffed softly and wiped her tears away as she spoke in a slower voice, "I'm pregnant."

"No you're not."

Kairi's face scrunched up with confusion as his quick reply. She watched as he stared at her, skin pale and eyes wide, and she knew that he was waiting for her to laugh and say that she was kidding, or something along those lines. This wasn't a topic to joke about, not right now at least, and she wasn't even going to try.

"That day I wasn't at school," she began. "I went over to Future Island. I needed to know, but I didn't want anyone else to gossip about it. I wanted to be the one to tell you, not some blabbermouth who didn't really know. Then you kept texting me and I was going to tell you over text but I couldn't because that's not something you text and I—" Tears welded up in her eyes.

Sora didn't say anything, she wasn't even sure if he actually moved. She blinked once, and suddenly, he shot out of the bed, staring at her as if she had grown a second head. His mouth opened and closed again before he asked, "Are you sure?"

She nodded her head.

"But—I—we—that's…" he trailed off, an odd look passing over his features. "That was nearly a month ago though! I—you knew for a month?"

Kairi squirmed a bit before she reluctantly nodded her head. "I tried to tell you but I just—I couldn't."

"A month," Sora muttered again. "An entire month? I knew something was wrong but I never—why didn't you tell me? An entire goddamn month!"

"I'm sorry," she replied weakly, wincing a bit as his voice got louder.

His expression shifted again, and suddenly his eyes narrowed and his face tinted red with anger. Kairi moved away from him slightly, expecting him to snap at her, but he didn't. Instead, he turned away from her and slammed his fist into the bedside table. "Fuck!"

Kairi jumped, but didn't get a chance to say anything as he weakly looked at her and said, "How? You were on the pill. I know you're careful. How?"

Tears streaked down her cheeks and she shook her head, not knowing how to answer the question. She had checked her pills, she always did, and when they weren't sure if the pills would work properly (like when she needed to take certain prescriptions), they would use other kinds of protection. They were careful, no matter what their friends though.

"How far?" he finally asked. She didn't quite know how to take his question until she realized that he was asking how far along she was.

Shrugging a bit, she said, "My birthday."

"Your bir—" Sora cut himself off, his face going pale again. "No."

"Sora?"

He was silent for a moment before he muttered, "I—I saw it."

"What?"

"My dreams. I used to have dreams all the time, remember? Not normal ones."

"Yes." She stared at him, not sure where he was going with this.

"I saw the party! I saw us! Then I saw you with—you know—a bigger stomach. I saw it more than once. It haunted me, but then…"

"You knew?" she muttered. She remembered him dreaming when they were traveling from world to world together. The more they traveled through the darkness, the worst they got. Once they started traveling in the light again, they seemed to diminish.

Kairi suddenly felt an inexplicable wave of rage pass over her. She stood up, facing him, and snapped, "How could you just forget something like that?"

Sora stopped pacing when she stood before him, and looked visibly startled at the question. He didn't respond with his normal confusion or light-hearted replies to make her calm down, her temper had always been a bit quicker than his. No, this time he glared at her and said, "They were dreams Kairi. Sorry I was too busy saving you every time we turned around to keep them in mind!"

"You should have known!"

"Maybe you shouldn't mess up your pills!" he snapped back. "It's the ONLY thing that could have happened!"

"I took every fucking pill!" Kairi yelled, her face reddening with anger. "I took them exactly how I was supposed to! This is your fault too!"

"How do I know you didn't do it on purpose, huh?" Sora fired back. He was angry; there was no doubting that. He was angry with himself, and he was angry at her for snapping at him about his dreams. His anger made him irrational, and he was aiming to hurt. "You always went on about kids this, kids that, having kids young. It's all you've ever talked about! It always really freaked me out. You should be ecstatic right about now. You finally got what you wanted."

"You think I wanted this?" she asked angrily. "You think I wanted to get pregnant before I was done school? Before I had a job and a stable home? I didn't ask for this. I don't want it either!"

"Then why the hell don't you just get rid of it?" Sora said. He paused after that, his face going neutral as he realized what he had implied. He stared at her for a moment before saying, "I didn't mean it like that."

"How else could you have meant it?"

He took a deep breath, his patience wearing thin. He thought about what his mother had told him long ago. One of their night neighbours had been really nasty to him when she was pregnant, and his mother explained that, sometimes, pregnant women couldn't really keep control of their emotions that well, even really early on. He could easily see that being the case with Kairi at the moment. She wasn't usually that quick to anger.

He was about to say something else to her, when she let out a groan and her hands went to her forehead. She took a step away from him and stumbled over the sheets that were still on the floor. Sora shot forward and caught her before she could fall. She leaned on him as he quickly led her back to the bed and made her sit down again.

Kairi was silent for a moment before she suddenly started crying. He hugged her tightly to his chest.

"Y—you're right. This was my fault. I—I should have been more careful. I probably messed up I—"

"No," he said quickly, his anger completely gone, shame in its place. "No, it was just...rotten luck. It's okay. We're both at fault. It—this takes two people. I'm so sorry. I don't know why I snapped. I should have never snapped at you. Ever. That anger wasn't like me. Please, calm down. It's okay. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. It'll be okay."

"I'm sorry for not telling you," she said, sounding borderline panicked. "I should have but I didn't. There was nothing you could have done about the dreams and I understand why you hate me and—"

His gut clenched with guilt. "Hate you? Kairi, nothing could make me hate you. I love you. This doesn't change that. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to take it out on you I just..." he trailed off, not sure how to explain himself. There really was no explanation. She had snapped, and he had snapped back. They were only human after all, and they had their limits with one another too. "I'm sorry. Please, it'll be okay. I'm sorry. Please calm down. Please." He started rubbing her back, knowing that it soothed her.

She sniffled and curled up at his side, starting to calm down. She was silent, but her tears had yet to stop. Sora hugged her close, not saying a word. She was pregnant. He had gotten her pregnant. He suddenly remembered how many times that she had tried to say something but ended up crying. She'd been trying to tell him for a while. It made him feel even worse. At the same time, it also made him feel annoyed that she thought she couldn't trust him. Admittedly though, he did react rather badly, so her fears were justified a bit.

"Hey," he whispered to her, gently grabbing her chin and tilting her face towards his. "It's early. How about you get some sleep or a nice warm shower? I'll go get you something to eat and—"

"Take a walk?" she finished for him. "I—it's okay. You can be upset."

"Shhh, we're not going to talk about this right now," Sora said. "We'll talk about it later. You need to get some rest, to relax. A bath maybe? With that strawberry scented bubble stuff that you brought?"

She thought about it for a moment and nodded her head. A nice, warm bath sounded more than just relaxing at the moment, but maybe without the bubbles. The strawberry scent was a little too strong and made her queasy, but maybe she could find something else. It sounded positively blissful. Before she could get up, he pressed his hand to her shoulder and said, "I can do it."

Kairi shook her head and said, in a surprisingly firm voice, "I want you to go for a walk. I want you to clear your head. Then I want you to get me some food. I just—you need to go." A flash of panic appeared on her face for a moment. "But you need to come back, okay?"

Sora stared at her for a moment and nodded his head. He could feel it in him. She didn't want him there for the moment. She wanted to just relax without him around, to calm herself down without having to see his face, so that they could both be levelheaded about everything that was going on. He could still feel the hurt, fear, and anger directed at him, and he was sure that she could feel the overwhelming guilt coming from him. It didn't matter what he felt though. He didn't want her to get upset and hurt herself somehow.

He gave her a kiss on the forehead before getting out of the bed, tugging a white t-shirt over his head, and walking out of the door, casting a worried look over his shoulder. He closed the door, but not all the way, instead, he peaked through the crack, to see what she'd do.

She stared down at the bed for a moment before she started sobbing loudly, grabbing one of the pillows and hugging it to her body.

"It's okay," she muttered. "I didn't mean to yell at him, and he didn't mean to yell back. We didn't mean it."

Sora stared at her, not sure exactly what she was doing or who she was talking to. He watched her squeeze the pillow tighter and muttered, "It's okay baby, everything will be okay."

Sora quietly closed the door and leaned his forehead against it. He knew who she was talking to now, and it made him feel even worse. He couldn't have reacted worse than he had. He was so stupid. First yelling because she didn't tell him beforehand, then blaming her. Yeah, he definitely had a winning record. It didn't matter if she snapped at him about the dreams. He should have known better than to snap back. He heard her sobs start to quiet, and he heard her shift on the bed, a small whimpering sound leaving her. There was something just so heartbreaking about the sound that he couldn't take it. He couldn't just stand there anymore. He pushed himself off of the door and ran.

**VVVVVV**

Sora moved so that he was lying on the ground, staring at nothing. The bright, happy sky was mocking him, he was sure of it. It was saying 'Ha, ha, you screwed up not only your life, but Kairi's too. Sucker'. He knew it was. He wished that it would rain or something. Maybe then he would get sick and not have to deal with this.

He rolled onto his side, staring at the dirt on the ground in front of him. That's what he was for thinking things like that. Dirt. He was just dirt. Dirt that had used perfection, and now perfection was ruined by dirt.

Kairi had been thinking of being a teacher, or opening her own daycare, or something involving children. She would need an education and experience to get those things though. In that day and age, she could still do it, but Sora knew that she wouldn't. He knew for a fact that she would dedicate her life to their baby and—

Suddenly he sat up, a sick feeling passing over him that he knew had nothing to do with her. A baby. There was a baby in her; a baby that she was talking to earlier. He knew what 'pregnant' meant, but at the same time, it didn't really occurred to him that he was going to be a father. They were going to have a baby, a small human, that they would be responsible for. Someone that they had to love, take care of, and be responsible for. A tiny life that belonged to them alone that they needed to nurture.

He then thought about how small Kairi was. She definitely had wider hips, in fact, one crazy old lay stopped them once on Destiny Islands and said that Kairi had excellent child-bearing hips. Considering Riku and his girlfriend had been with them at the time, they had both been embarrassed. She was healthy and active, something that would definitely help, but still, she was so skinny.

The more he thought about her, the more he realized exactly how stupid he was for not knowing. Their hearts were connected so tightly that he felt sick when she was physically sick. The way she was acting, how she was sick, the way her body had already changed. He should have known.

Taking a deep breath, he shifted his position once again so that he was kneeling in front of the founding, staring into it. He looked at his reflection, knowing that if anyone saw him, they'd be suspicious. Hell, he was running around in his pajamas!

"Why are you running around in your pajamas?" Riku had spectacular timing.

Sora looked around at Riku, who took one look at him, raised his eyebrow and asked, "What did you do?"

Sora folded his arms in front of his chest defensively and said, "I screwed up Riku, really bad."

Riku was about to give him another sarcastic remark, but stopped himself when he saw the desperation in Sora's eyes. Whatever happened was bad. "How?"

Sora looked down at the ground and said, "I got mad at her. I—I apologized but I still—I well, both of us got mad and we just started yelling and it's not something that you should…it _is_ something you should freak out about a bit. I mean, I know I just—I messed up and she was crying when I left and—"

"Woah, Sora," Riku said, worry flashing on his face. "What in God's name are you going on about?"

"I have to go get her breakfast," Sora said suddenly. "I promised I'd bring her breakfast. She must be really hungry."

"Okay, now you sound like a total psycho changing the topic like that," he pointed out. "What happened?"

Sora just stared at him for a moment before looking down at his feet and saying, "Kairi's pregnant."

Whatever Riku had been expecting, it certainly wasn't that. He stared at Sora, waiting for a 'lol jk', or something similar, but instead, all he got was a look of panic and fear. That was when it occurred to Riku that Sora was being completely serious. Kairi was pregnant.

"You're sure?" Riku asked slowly. "Or is it just a scare or—?"

"She's pregnant," Sora repeated.

He took a deep breath and thought about everything else Sora said. A cross look suddenly appeared on his face as he said, "So she told you, and you got mad and freaked out, is that right?"

Sora was looking anywhere but at Riku and said, "Well, I got a bit upset. Then I remembered that I saw it happen. I had nightmares that it would happen over a year ago. I forgot. She got angry about that, and then I started yelling back and it just kept going until she almost fainted and I just wanted her to calm down, so I told her to get some sleep or to take a bath and I'd get her food and she told me to go for a walk and basically to just get out and she was throwing up a lot and—I'm an ass Riku. You don't need to tell me that. I don't know what to do." He ended with something akin to a whimper.

Riku had been about to lash out at his friend, but instead he just sighed. Sora looked so down, and he knew that his friend was punishing himself enough without being yelled at for now.

Riku wasn't his best friend for nothing. He knew for a fact that Kairi would not go through with an abortion, and he knew that Sora would stick with her every step of the way. Still, he also knew some thing about Sora that no one else (aside from maybe Roxas) knew. Things like how past conversations with his departed mother might effect his judgment and attitude towards Kairi being pregnant.

He was no psychologist, but he knew that Sora's reaction most likely stemmed from his mother.

Riku sighed and clapped his hand on Sora's shoulder. The brunet almost fell from the unexpected weight, but managed to catch himself.

"Tell her about your mother, and about the promise," he told his friend. "Tell her everything. She'll understand. Don't you dare go back without food for her, and spend the whole day with her. Do anything she wants. Try to talk about what happened. Just…stick together."

Sora nodded his head slowly and said, "Thanks Riku."

"Sora," Riku said as the brunet began to walk away. "I swear to God, if I catch you acting like an ass to her, or if I hear anything about you mistreating her, and it turns out to be true, I'll beat the shit out of you. Got it."

He paused and replied, "If I do that, I'll go looking for you so you can beat the shit out of me."

Riku watched as Sora left and let out a sigh, running his hand through his silver hair. "Fucking hell."

**VVVVVV**

When Sora got back to their room, food carefully balanced in one hand, Kairi was nowhere to be seen. He set the tray down on the bed and looked towards the door to the bathroom. The light was on, and he could hear a bit of movement in water.

He carefully moved to the door and knocked on it gently. He leaned his forehead against it and asked, "Iri?"

"You can come in."

He walked into the room and saw her leaning back in the deep bathtub. Bubbles obscured his view of her, but she was exposed from the shoulders up. She certainly looked relaxed now, and that made him feel better.

Sora knelt down beside her and ran a hand through her wet hair and said, "You feeling better?"

She nodded her head and said, "Yeah. I'm not sore anymore."

He gently placed his lips on the side of her head and said, "Kairi, I'm sorry." His hand rested on her arm, just touching the water, and he said, "It's starting to get cold."

"Can you get me that big towel over there?" He quickly grabbed the towel and she stood up, taking it from him and wrapping it around her body.

"I brought food," he said after a moment of staring at her.

A smile appeared on her face and she let out of moan of, "I'm starved. I feel like I could eat everything right now."

He followed her into the room and watched as she tucked her towel more securely around her as she sat on the bed, pulling the tray of good towards her.

"Oh my god, pancakes," she said as she took the fork off the tray and cut a piece of the pancake, quickly eating it.

Sora smiled at her before asking, "Shouldn't you get dressed first?"

"No," she replied as she continued to eat. She knew that she would have to start constraining how much she ate, knowing that too much would not be good for either of them, but she just wanted to eat everything then and there. Forget what doctors say, if she was hungry, she was going to eat.

Once she was done eating, Sora took the tray from her and set it on the bedside table.

"We need to talk, don't we?" he asked her.

"Better to do it right away," she replied. "I need to get dressed first though."

Sora looked away while she got dressed. Normally, it didn't really bother either of them, but things were different now. He felt uncomfortable just staring at her, because even though her stomach was flat, he knew that his baby, their baby, was growing inside of her.

She sat on the bed, pulling her legs close to her and looked at him. He didn't like the guarded look on her face.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, playing with a loose string on his pajama pants. "I didn't mean to get mad about the dreams."

He smiled slightly, taking her hand into his own, and said, "That's okay. I'm sorry for getting mad at you. I shouldn't have. This is on me too. I just…"

"What?" she encouraged.

"My mom," he said sadly. "I never told you this, cause it's kind of embarrassing. After we got home from our first adventures, my mom saw how close you and I were getting. You know, before I decided to be rebel without a care and argue with her all the time." She smiled slightly at this. "She knew what I felt for you, what I thought about you. My mom gave me this huge talk. Not the birds and the bees talk, I got that when I was, like, twelve, but she just kept telling me that I was a teenage boy and you were a teenage girl and our hormones are out of wack and we'd be tempted to have sex. Those were her words. She was blunt." He looked down, a sad look on his face.

Kairi took her hand out of his, and placed it on his cheeks as she said, "Yeah."

"She told me that I needed to fight those urges. Basically, she said that only weak people, people who shame their families, give in. She said that there was nothing more shameful than a non-married couple to have a child, let alone teenagers who weren't married. She said that if it ever happened to me, I had better just not come home. That if I ever got you pregnant, it was my own fault and I should be able to take care of you without her help. She always knew that it was you. It was like she knew it was going to happen. She said that if I ever ruined your future that—"

Kairi cut him off with a gentle kiss on the lips. He returned the embrace that lasted only a moment before she pulled back and said, "Listen to me. You know your mom, and I do too. She was always someone who was very torn between normal life and old tradition. For good reason. If we had grown up like we were born to, both of us would have been like that too. She might have said that, but I know she wouldn't have turned you away. She might have been a little angry or disappointed, but she wouldn't love you less."

"I feel like I let her down. She died for me Kairi. I just…"

"My adopted father would be pissed too," she mumbled as she stretched her leg out and shifted so that she was pressed against his side. "I want you to know, you have not ruined my future. Not at all." Then she looked down. "I feel like I've ruined yours. Your mother was making you promise to be a good boy and abstain until marriage, and then I come around and seduce you."

That made Sora laugh a bit and he said, "You've done nothing wrong, Iri."

"I did wear a very revealing dress that made you break down," Kairi pointed out.

Sora shook his head and said, "I don't regret being with you, no matter what she told me. I don't. I love you. I just…"

"I still have my pills," Kairi said softly. "I checked them after you left. They're all there."

"And you didn't take any antibiotics or anything that could have messed it up either," Sora said thoughtfully. "Right?"

She shook her head. "All I can think of is shitty luck and the universe hating us. Let Naminé or anyone else tease us, but we were careful. Any time we thought there was a chance the pills wouldn't work, we used other forms of protection."

Sora nodded his head, and she continued talking, "You did not ruin me, I want you to know that. Out of everything I've wanted in life, the only constant was the fact that I've always seen you in my life. I've always wanted a family, and you were always the one there."

Sora kissed her on the lips and said, "I really am sorry."

She teared up a bit and said, "I can feel it. I know you mean it. I meant it too."

"Maybe, but you're still a bit frustrated," he replied. "This is a two-way street, Iri."

She laughed a bit and said, "It's the hormones. I feel all over the place. One minute I feel like I want to cry, the next minute I'm the happiest person in the world."

Sora wrapped his arm around her and said, "Is there any way I can help?"

"Don't make me angry?"

He chuckled a bit, leaning his head on top of hers and they sat in silence. After a few moments, he hesitantly said, "I know it might be too soon, but what do you want to do?"

"With what?" she asked, though he was sure that she knew what he was talking about.

He was hesitant in touching her. She seemed to realize what he wanted to do though, and took his hand, pressing it to her flat stomach. They sat in silence, and Sora found it hard to believe that there was actually something growing inside of her. It didn't seem possible.

"What are our options?" she whispered. He was sure that she had already looked into it though.

"Well, there's adoption or abortion," Sora pointed out.

She frowned at this, backing up a bit so that she could see his face. "Are those my only two options?"

"Of course not," he answered quickly. "I just—"

"We can't give this baby up for adoption. You know we can't. No matter how much we would try to hide who we are, someone would find out who its parents are. They would use it, they would hurt it to get to us. It's going to be connected to us too. We would always feel it, even if it wasn't with us. I don't think I could deal with that." She started to cry silently, and Sora pulled her close to him.

"It's okay Iri, it's okay. We won't let anyone take it away."

"I don't want to lose you," she said with a strangled sob. "There will be more children, but there's only one you. I can get an abortion, if that's what you really want."

Sora felt shock pass through him. She had always been against abortion, though not to completely condemn it. She would side with the people 'against' it in class debates, and she would give the girls whispering about 'secret' abortions the most obvious looks of disgust ever. Still, she was sympathetic with those who had an abortion after being raped. She had possibly done it to herself when she stabbed herself in her uterus. She had always said that she would never have an abortion except for in that situation.

It was a situation he would never, ever allow her to be in again. He wondered, briefly, if her stabbing herself would cause problems later on in the pregnancy. As it was, he didn't believe that abortion, unless in extreme cases (because there were exceptions to everything in life), was right.

To hear Kairi willingly go against something she believed in so strongly, for him and him alone, made him feel both flattered and horrible at the same time. For a microsecond, he entertained the notion of saying 'yes', but he couldn't do it. He knew that she would resent him for it, and it would affect them in the long run. It wasn't just that though. He would hate himself too. Sora had seen so many people die, so many lives cut short. How could he ever condone cutting an innocent life that had barely started short.

"No Kairi," he said firmly, pressing his hand on her cheek and forcing her to look at him. "No. You don't want to, I won't let you do that for me, and I—I couldn't let you do it either. We—we'll keep it."

Kairi's eyes stared into his for a moment before she hugged him tightly, hiding her face in the crook of his neck. Sora's arms moved and wrapped around her, resting his chin on top of her head. His hand ran up and down her back, feeling her relax against him completely for the first time that day.

"Thank you," she whispered. "I love you."

"I love you too," he said after a moment. No matter what, that was something that would never change, even though everything else was about to change so drastically. He would stick with her though everything, but he wasn't sure how good of a job he was going to do, because a huge part of him was screaming that the farther away he was from the child, the better it would be for Kairi and for it.

**VVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Yes, Sora was definitely OOC, as was Kairi, but keep in mind that it's not a situation we'd ever actually see either character in the games. Plus they're both just freaking right to high hell.

So Sora is going to be there for her and everything, but he's definitely not 100 percent okay with this. It's something that he'll have to square with later on more than anything.

We meet a new character in the next chapter. Well…not really. It's not an OC of mine and it's been in another story of mine before…but you know what I mean!

As for the chapter title…well, this is definitely going to divide Sora and Kairi a bit, which is something you'll see later on.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! That includes: Trainalf, Q-A the Authoress, Jad826, Shifuni, coushin5, Eddie Camp, shadowwolf547, The 666th necrophiliac, Colonel Mycroft, EvilxLittlexNinja, and 16afoster.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	10. Eternal Moments

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Nine – Eternal Moments_

It was still a nice, clear, sunny day by the time Kairi decided that she wanted to leave the confines of their shared room. She had no destination in mind, all she knew was that she wanted to get out of the castle, so they left the castle entirely and went into Disney Town.

Sora was just as amazed as she was at the town. He knew about all the places around Disney (Donald and Goofy had explained it all), but he never actually went to any of these places. Any time he had been to Disney, he stayed in the castle, only venturing into the courtyards. The town was full of life and colour with different anthropomorphic and human figures alike.

"I didn't know actual people lived here too," Kairi said when she saw someone who looked like a pirate yelling at a cow who stood on two legs.

"Minnie mentioned it before," Sora said, keep her hand held tightly in his so that they wouldn't get separated. "She told me that most places had a mix, but there are some cities out there where the creatures refuse to live with the humans and vice versa. They're not particularly mean to each other, they'd just rather stay clear of one another."

Kairi nodded and said, "This place is so beautiful and colourful."

Sora grinned at her and asked, "Anything in particular you'd like to see?"

"I'd like to get a few books or something, maybe. Just things to read. That little store over there looks cute too. The one with the jewelry?"

Sora sighed, smiling slightly and saying, "Lead the way."

She led him around to different stores, smiling the entire time. She bought a few books, slipping in one about pregnancy that the owner didn't seem to notice when he scanned it. Most of the books that she got though were silly romantic ones though, something Sora teased her about.

There was a small little store that sold magic stones. They weren't strong magic, but it was more to promote things like happiness and protection. Sora was quick to buy some, a little bag that he gave to Kairi. She thought it was both cute and funny that he wanted to cover all of their bases when it came to her. So she couldn't be surprised when he put together a bag of tiny stones that promoted protection, calming, relieving anger and fear, promoting good luck and so on. It was a little silly, but she ended up with a small velvet bag with a small agate, amazonite, aquamarine, diopside, emerald, garnet, jade, kyanite, lapis lazuli, opal, rose quartz and a topaz in it. She swore to keep it on her at all times.

They wandered around leisurely, Kairi's hand held in his own. It had been a long time since they had done something simple like that. Both had been so busy with the end of the school year and exams that they barely spent any time together. Instead, Sora was usually with Roxas and Kairi with Namine, or in a big group together.

Their argument from that morning seemed all but forgotten, as had the massive news that she threw at him. He wasn't going to bring it up again, because she was very happy right now.

"We should probably go back soon," Sora said to her. "We don't want anyone to worry."

"Okay I gu—what do those three little ducks have?"

He looked around, smiled and said, "Huey, Dewey and Louie. I swear, they're everywhere I go. Traverse Town, Radiant Garden, here…come on, lets go see what that weird thing is." Kairi made a sound of acknowledgement, glad that Sora felt the need to state their names, because while she recognized them, for the life of her, she couldn't remember their names.

They made their way through the crowds and finally reached what looked like a canon pointed at a stage. Huey looked over, smiled and said, "Sora! It's good ta see ya! And Kairi too!"

"Hey guys," Sora said with a grin. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, we decided to break out the ice cream cannon," Dewey explained.

"Yeah, it's been a while since we used it," Louie added.

"You shoot ice cream at people?" Kairi asked slowly. She really felt like it was a waste of ice cream, and now that she thought about it, she really wanted some.

"We shoot it into cones on the stage. It's a game. You do it to music," Huey said. "We used magic to make sure that, if it gets in the cones, it stays there, but if a person misses, it magically vanishes. It doesn't actually hit anyone."

"I still don't think I'd like ice cream shot at me," she insisted, moving so that she was holding on to Sora's arm, pressing herself close to him, making her eyes a little bit wider and more watery. "Though I would like some to eat."

Sora glanced down at her pleading eyes and smiled slightly, shaking his hand before saying, "Fine, we'll find a place to get ice cream."

"You can buy some from us!" Louie said happily.

"Is it the stuff that goes in the cannon?" Kairi asked warily.

The three ducklings found this question hilarious. "No!"

"Unca Scrooge owns a store here. That's why he wanted to open one in Radiant Garden," Dewey said.

"Yeah, we have way more kinds here, come on, I'll show you." Huey looked over at his two brothers and said, "You guys watch the canon, okay?"

They replied affirmatively and Huey led them over to a brightly decorated building.

"It's not actually opened yet," Huey said. "It used to be, but Unca Scrooge decided that the inside needed to be renovated. The 'grand re-opening' is tomorrow, but we can definitely give you guys some today. Aunt Daisy, Queen Minnie, and even Max and Goofy were here already."

Kairi looked up at the menu and read, "Volcano Curry? Snow Bear? Spark Lemon? Jewel Vanilla? Queen Berry? Rock Crunch? Honey Bear? Milky Way? Double Crunch? Hat Trick? Those are all interesting names."

"Yeah," Huey laughed. "We have more too, but those are the only ones we have in stock. Lets see, Volcano Curry has pepper and curry."

"Ew," she said, not bothering to hide her disgust.

"Snow Bear is made with sesame and soy milk."

"No thanks."

"Spark Lemon has candy, soda and lemon."

"Sounds like a better drink."

"Jewel Vanilla has jam, beans and sugar."

"What kind of beans?" Sora asked.

"Vanilla."

"Well, that doesn't sound bad," Kairi said. "What's in everything else?"

"Queen Berry was made specially for Queen Minnie. It has all her favorites in it including raspberry, jelly, birthday cake and honey."

"That one does sound good. Minnie has great taste. What's Rock Crunch?"

"Caramel and nuts. Honey Bear is honey and apples, Milky Way is fluffy cream, rainbow syrup and cotton candy."

"Oh my god all of those sound good Sora," she said, tugging at his arm. "What's Double Crunch?"

"Strawberry, romance milk, wedding cake and shooting star syrup. Hat Trick is melon, orange and peach."

Kairi giggled and said, "Double crunch sounds interesting, doesn't it Sora?"

Sora blushed deeply said, "Do you know what you want?"

"Everything," she said while leaning on him, looking up at the sign. "I think I want Milky Way for now Huey, if that's okay? A large one!"

"Gotcha. What about you Sora?"

"Rock Crunch, please." He nudged Kairi, stressing the word please. She ignored him.

The little duck went to work and Sora glanced down at Kairi, who seemed very happy and at ease right then. In fact, she looked positively excited.

Huey said that they didn't have to pay, but Sora insisted that he take some. Just seeing how happy Kairi was as she ate her brightly coloured ice cream was a good enough reason for him, considering how upset she was that morning.

"So, you ready to go back?" Sora asked her as he ate his ice cream. He loved caramel, so the ice cream was amazing. He had to raise his eyebrow at Kairi, who was simply ignoring him and focusing on her own sweet dessert, which was a fair bit bigger than his. He didn't get a reply, so he just took her by the arm and led her back to the castle.

**VVVVVV**

Riku looked up as the door to the huge lounge that they were in opened. His split second distraction gave Roxas the upper hand, bringing down the weapon onto his head.

"Yes!" Roxas cried out and jumped up and waved his hands around. "Finally!"

"I was distracted," Riku replied crossly, setting down the controller. On the wide-screen television in front of him, the words 'Player Two Wins' flashed, as if mocking him. He groaned angrily and turned around, his angry look fading as he saw Sora walk in, leading Kairi with his hand on her lower back. Riku instantly realized that it was a good idea on his part, because she seemed completely out of it.

"Did you drug her?" Riku asked with a raised eyebrow. He eyed her brightly coloured ice cream skeptically, as if the very colours themselves were evidence of Sora lacing it with drugs.

"No," he looked almost offended at this, but his expression swiftly changed to an amused one. "She just loves that ice cream more than me."

"So where did you guys go?" Midori asked as she looked up from the book that she had been reading. "Or did you just sleep all day and go raid the kitchen now?"

"We went into town," Sora explained as he sat down on one of the huge, cushioned armchairs. Kairi sat on his lap instantly, even though there were more chairs all around.

"Are you okay Kairi?" Namine asked with a frown as she set down her sketchbook.

Kairi slowly looked at her and said, "I'm fine. This is just really good ice cream."

Riku stared at her for a moment before his eyes shifted to Sora. At first, he seemed fine, but when the brunet realized his friend was staring at him, a quick flash of fear went through his eyes, unable to hide it. Riku really couldn't blame him, knowing what he knew.

He had been in a situation not long ago when he went to break up with a girlfriend, and she blurted out that she thought she was pregnant in a last-ditch attempt to make him stay. He doubted it, but had to wait an agonizing week for the result. The entire time, he had been nervous and horrified, and he had never felt more relieved when the tests came out negative. The girl had been in a rage over it, and he quickly broke up with her. She had been his worst choice for a girlfriend ever. Riku could sympathize with Sora, but at the same time, if Sora hurt Kairi in any way, he would have to beat the living hell out of him. He would get Roxas to help too.

"Where did you get the ice cream?" Roxas asked, trying to sound as casual as possible. In reality though, everyone in the room knew that Roxas was restraining himself to not run out of the door in search of ice cream.

Sora had his arm around Kairi's shoulder as she ate, and a smirk appeared on his face. "Did you know that Huey, Dewey and Louie had an ice cream store? It was closed for renovations but it'll be opened tomorrow. They're giving their friends, and people from the castle some today though. That and they have an ice cream cannon."

"An ice…cream…cannon?" Roxas asked slowly, his eyes going wide as he stared at his twin.

"Yeah," Sora said with a nod. "He says that they basically made it into a game where they shoot ice cream into a person's cone to music or something like that. You get a free ice cream if you do good enough."

"Are you serious?" his tone of voice was rather airy voice, almost like Kairi's.

Kairi seemed to realize this too, and she seemed a little offended, though Sora didn't know why. She suddenly smirked the smirk he knew came with the more sly part of her personality. She took a huge bit of her ice cream and let out a small moan before saying, "Oh my god, this is the best thing I've ever eaten."

Roxas looked from Kairi, to her ice cream, to Sora, back to the ice cream, to Naminé, to the ice cream, to the door, and then he was gone.

"Roxas! Don't you dare spend all your munny on ice cream!" Naminé yelled after him, sounding more like his mother than his girlfriend. She sighed, shook her head and went after him.

Sora, Riku and Midori laughed and Sora said, "Nice."

"What? This is the best ice cream I've ever tasted," she replied with a grin, sounding very proud of herself.

"Well played," Midori said with a grin. "He's been slouching around and being lazy all day. That, added on to the sheer amount of junk he eats, is going to make him fat. You better watch out too Kairi, that's a lot of ice cream."

"Weren't you saying not too long ago that you wanted to watch what you eat? Just to be healthier?" Riku asked her.

"I can indulge sometimes," she replied, sounding a little annoyed.

"Yeah," Sora agreed slowly, "but in a little while when you start sho—"

Kairi's eyes went huge and the next thing anyone knew, her ice cream had ended up in Sora's face, smearing his skin with a variety of sticky, sweet colours.

Everyone went silent and Sora slowly blinked while staring at her. She dropped the remaining ice cream and the cone to the floor.

"Did you lose some brain cells while you were sick?" Midori blurted out, unable to comprehend what exactly was going on. As far as she knew, one minute they were having a good conversation, the next Kairi shoved ice cream in Sora's face.

Kairi suddenly leapt up from Sora's lap and rushed out of the room. Sora reached up and wiped his face off with his glove before standing up and silently following her, ignoring the ice cream on the floor.

Midori looked over at Riku with wide eyes and asked, "No really, what just happened?"

Riku was pretty sure that he knew why she was acting the way she was, but he just shrugged it off and said, "No idea." It wasn't his news to tell, and from Kairi's reaction when he was positive that Sora was about to say something about her being pregnant, she didn't want anyone else to know yet.

**VVVVVV**

"What the hell Kairi?" Sora asked when he caught up to her in their room, trying to repress how annoyed he actually felt. He felt like yelling at her, but he kept taking deep breaths to calm himself down.

She didn't answer, instead going to the bathroom. Sora followed her quickly, thinking that she was going to be sick. Instead, she ran a cloth under the water before turning the faucet off and moving to him, running the warm cloth over his skin to wipe off the ice cream that was on his face.

He stayed silent, observing her as she cleaned the mess that she made. He didn't lash out or say anything, because he could see the tears welding up in her eyes, though they didn't spill over yet.

She was trying to get the sticky residue that stuck his hair together off but she couldn't get the tangled stands apart. That was when she burst into tears.

"Hey," Sora said, pulling her close, "it's okay. It's okay."

"You were going to tell them," she said in a small voice.

It took him a minute to realize what she meant before he said, "Well they do need to know. It's going to effect everyone in some way."

"Not yet," she said, sounding like she was begging.

"Why?"

She suddenly jerked away from him, whipping around so that she was facing away from him, her arms wrapping around her stomach as if she was in pain, the cloth falling to the floor. He was about to ask if something was wrong and she said, "I just—feel like it would jinx it. The first three months are when miscarriages are most common and I—I don't want anything to—I just want to wait until after that. Please?" She sniffled loudly and Sora realized that she wasn't crying as much as she was whimpering. "Don't be mad."

He instantly felt horrible. He put his hands on her shoulders, rubbing them gently and he said, "I'm not mad Iri. Not at all. Okay, maybe I was a bit annoyed, but you did shove ice cream into my face." He realized what he said and quickly kept talking, "I'm not mad though. I promise. It's okay. You don't want anyone to know yet? Well, we won't tell anyone…er…well…anyone else. Please don't cry."

Once again, she whipped around (he made a note that pregnant Kairi seemed to have a thing for dramatics), this time staring at him with hard eyes. "Who did you tell?"

"Riku," he admitted hesitantly.

Kairi stared at him blankly before her eyes softened and she nodded her head. "Riku won't tell anyone else. Maybe it's better if one other person knows. Just in case."

Sora nodded his head and asked, "Are you okay now?"

She groaned and said, "I can't believe I wasted my delicious ice cream."

Sora laughed a bit at this before leaning down and kissing her on the lips quickly. "I'll talk to Scrooge to see if we can get you an entire, personal tub of it, okay? Now how about—" Kairi cut him off by pulling him down into a deep kiss. He was a little surprised, but he responded after a moment.

They broke apart a few minutes later, panting slightly and said she said, "You tasted like my ice cream."

His laughter echoed around them and he hugged her to him, the argument forgotten.

**VVVVVV**

Kairi was extremely affectionate for the rest of the night, and it was very noticeable. Sora was very surprised, because he expected her to be a little angry with him, or annoyed or something, throughout the rest of the day.

It seemed that Riku's idea of him spending the entire day with her and waiting on her hand and foot was a good one. If he had to describe her in any way, it would be positively radiant and happy. Though her emotions were quick to shift if she thought he was a little angry with her. Then she would instantly tear up or get a little more annoyed. It wasn't too noticeable though.

If she was like this now, he could only imagine what it would be like four or five months down the road.

They were all in chairs sitting in Mickey's huge study. He had come to them earlier, explaining that there was something important that he had to discuss with them, something that had just come to light after a conversation with Master Yen Sid earlier that day. All they got out of him was that it would affect Sora and Roxas the most, something that just made the twins sigh. Everything seemed to affect them more than anyone else.

Mickey was sitting behind his desk, looking thoughtful as they all sat in the chairs that had been brought in. None of them urged him to speak, since he looked a little confused about what he wanted to say.

"Welp," Mickey started suddenly, "you remember how we established that Kairi being engaged to the Prince of another kingdom would get her away from Radiant Garden, and Naminé and Roxas volunteered to take up the throne, if only to guard the Door to Darkness?"

"Because I'm too much of a wimp to do it," Kairi grumbled, guilt lacing through her voice.

Naminé reached over and grabbed her cousin's hand. She smiled slightly and said, "It's okay Kairi. Radiant Garden needs someone, and I still have the option to make my own choices about who I marry where you wouldn't. It's okay. I want to do this."

Kairi smiled weakly at her, but at the same time, she was happy that Naminé seemed to be taking it so well. There was absolutely no way someone could talk her into going back and marrying some other man while being forced to abort her child. Though, in theory, she could marry Sora beforehand and he could go back with her to rule.

What Mickey said next completely took that idea away from her.

"You know basics of how Twilight's Destiny works. Usually the power is given to the new ruler during the coronation ceremony, that way the oldest in the family, if there's more than one sibling, has the choice of if they want to rule or not. A person cannot rule without this power. A power you already have, Sora."

"Yeah, you're the King of the broken pile of rocks," Riku joked.

Sora shot him a mocking glare and said, "Also Destiny Islands. You're my subject, bi—" Kairi elbowed him in the stomach.

"I wouldn't necessarily say it's just a broken pile of rocks," Mickey interjected. "Not anymore."

"What?" Midori summed up the question that they were all thinking.

"Master Yen Sid contacted me," Mickey explained. "He watches the stars, making sure that the worlds are alright. He discovered something amazing. Twilight's Destiny is rebuilding itself."

"Rebuil—it's not a bunch of lego! How does that work?" Sora asked with wide eyes.

"Burning Embers, Mysterious Abyss, Living Jungle, Crystal Shard and Keyblade Graveyard have all been drifting back to the core world where the castle is. They're moving back much more quickly than Twilight Town and Destiny Islands are, but everything is coming back together."

"How is that even possible?" Midori asked. "The worlds have been separate for years."

"Yes, when there was no one hosting the powers of Kingdom Hearts," Mickey said slowly. "Now there is. I'm willing to bet that makes all of the difference. From what I was told, your mother didn't have the power, Sora, and your grandfather died while splitting the worlds apart. It's all very confusing."

"So, basically Sora acts as a receptor or something," Naminé concluded. "The power is there, but it doesn't touch the world unless it goes through him first. So without the power touching the world, it couldn't come back together."

Roxas was silent the entire time, taking everything in. He looked up at Mickey and asked, "Isn't that dangerous for him?"

"I don't know," Mickey said while shaking his head. "Not much is known about Twilight's Destiny. I only know what Yen Sid, Aqua and Ven told me, and I think Aqua only knew what she did because of Ven."

There was a pause and Sora asked, "Who?" The image of the knight who showed him how to use portals of light (allowing him to save Kairi from Jorix) flashed through his mind quickly.

An odd look passed over the mouse's face and he said, "There are some things about the past, things that I know that no one else does. I'm the holder of some very important memories, memories that pertain to most of you. When have we ever had the chance to sit down a talk though? Especially in a safe place where no one can overhear us? Now is not the time, or place, to talk about these memories. It's just a feeling I've got. I think the first thing to do would be to go and see if Twilight's Destiny is coming back together ourselves."

Sora looked like he wanted to protest but Kairi put a hand on his shoulder and asked, "Then you'll tell us?"

"Yes, but only when it's safe to do so."

There was a heavy silence in the room before Sora said, "Well, lets go! The faster we get there, the faster we get answers!"

Kairi glanced at him for a second before looking at Mickey and asking, "Radiant Garden would never just let me and Sora be if we went there, would it?"

"On principal, no," Mickey answered with a shake of his head. "Besides, if Master Yen Sid is right, Sora's going to be needed in Twilight's Destiny when it all comes back together."

"It's okay Kairi," Naminé said again, her voice sounding more strong and sure than ever. "I can do this. I might not directly call the shots there, but maybe I can help make the world better so that no one else has to make these choices. I'll make sure no one touches that door again."

"And I'll be there to help her," Roxas pointed out.

Kairi nodded, and leaned back in her chair with a sigh, absentmindedly putting her hand on her stomach and rubbing it gently. She was feeling a little sore.

Mickey stared at her for a moment, an odd expression passing over his face. He looked at her suspiciously, but it vanished quickly enough. He then turned his attention to Sora, who was rapidly discussing travel plans with Roxas, Riku and Midori.

"Sorry fellas, we're going to have to at least wait until tomorrow," Mickey cut in when he heard Roxas suggesting they leave that night. "We need to get the ship stalked up on fuel, food and everything else we need."

They groaned a bit, but Sora didn't give any sound of protest beyond that. His eyes locked with Kairi's, and he suddenly felt a pit in his stomach. He had a feeling that something bad was going to happen, and it was going to happen soon.

**VVVVVV**

Heavy footsteps hit the ground, a bit of dust rising from the natural rock flooring that had been scraped and sculpted into a perfectly smooth floor. The walls and the ceiling were the same rock, and crudely made electrical wires were crisscrossing all over the floor, ceiling and walls. He moved slowly, with a bit of a hunch to his back, and many would have assumed that he would have been easy to subdue. That would have been a foolish, and risky, assumption though.

In truth, in his youth he had been much stronger than his older body permitted him to be, able to do things that he could only dream about now. He had given himself a second chance at youth, at power, but he had been foiled. His memories had been askew, unable to remember exactly who he was or just exact purpose. It ended up being his downfall. He had acted brashly and stupidly, and a young, untrained warrior had defeated him time and time again. He would not allow the same mistakes to happen though. Not this time. The third time's the charm, that's what they always said.

His burning yellow eyes turned to two large tanks. Unlike the room that was made of rock, these were intricately made with steel and glass, designed well to fulfill their purpose. In them was a glowing blue liquid, and in that liquid in each tank floated a figure.

In the first, a tall, well built figure with shaggy brown hair rested. He would have no idea of his purpose when he awoke. The same as before, but it would be much easier this time. It would take some time for him to reach his potential power and darkness again though, but the man was well prepared to deal with that. The second one though, he was shorter and skinnier, with oddly spiked blond hair. He could be controlled, that much had been proven, but the old man imagined that it would be a little more difficult this time around. His spirit would fight, the man knew it would, and with the heart still missing, there was no way to call the true warrior that he wanted. This time, he had no backup.

Turning to the third tank, which was empty, he frowned. There was supposed to be a third, a young woman with short blue hair and soft features. She had vanished long ago, and even though he had searched long and hard for her, in all of his forms, he had never been able to find her. She was supposed to be his back up, should the blond boy fail at his task. That just meant that there was no room for failure.

Suddenly, a small circle of darkness appeared, and a creature floated out of it. It was cloaked in darkness, hidden in the shadows, but it was obviously human.

"Any news?" the old man croaked out, his voice sounding rough, worn and old.

"Yes, Master," the figure said. "The Princess of Radiant Garden is engaged to the Prince of Twilight's Destiny, and they are expecting a child out of wedlock. As well, his brother, the second Prince of Twilight, is to be married to the Princess' cousin to rule Radiant Garden. I know you warned others not to bother with gossip, but this I knew you could use."

"You are correct," he agreed, a dark smirk appearing on his face. "This is excellent. It brings together many loose ends. This is exactly what we needed to happen. You are dismissed."

The figure nodded and vanished back into the portal.

Master Xehanort stood with a smirk on his face, staring at the two floating figures in the tank.

"Soon we will find the light at the end of the darkness. Soon."

**VVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

So, I'm rewriting one of the Disney Worlds for this fic, and I've come to a conclusion. You know how most authors, even if they say 'omg this chapter is so long' or 'this chapter is shorter than normal'? Usually they're only a few hundred, at most, a thousand words difference. I've come to the conclusion that there are some chapters that are going to be insanely longer than the norm. Lets take it page wise. In Microsoft Word, 12pt, Times New Roman, on average my chapters are 8-10 pages. The one I'm writing right now is borederline 20 pages (I'm not finished yet either), and I can't split it up, otherwise one chapter would be incredibly boring. So yeah, some chapters are going to be the size of two, while others are more normal.

Anyway, Roxas loves his ice cream. I always wondered what'd happen if he was introduced to that ice cream cannon.

I'm sorry I haven't been updating as much as before. To be honest, I'm kind of stuck right now. Yeah, stuck on a rewrite! I just…don't have any inspiration right now. Maybe because there's been absolutely no KH news in the longest time, and Harry Potter is stuck in my head right now? Who knows. That, and I've been incredibly busy lately. Bonus side: I definitely have an apartment for September. That's a load off my shoulders.

You guys are really awesome reviewers! You really are! Thank you to: Trainalf, Ash09, Jad826, EvilxLittlexNinja, Shifuni, Eddie Camp, Colonel Mycroft, Gibbons241, Q-A the Authoress, 16afoster, shadowwolf547, The 666th necrophiliac and Atem's Sister Atea!

I promise this time, I'll have the next chapter up quicker. What does the next chapter involve? Well, I can tell you something bad happens. Also, more Midori and Riku interaction! So stay tuned for that!

Remember, reviews make the world happy!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	11. Sweet Dreams

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Ten - Sweet Dreams_

Midori shivered slightly as the cool night air touched her skin. Still, she pushed the door to the courtyard of Disney Castle open, and quickly walked outside. She closed her brown eyes, enjoying the feel of the fresh air, knowing that there was only flat grass in front of her and nothing she could trip over. Still, her senses were sharp, and though Riku was better at being able to avoid accidents while walking blind (he had a long time to practice), she had become accustom to moving in the dark as well.

At one point of time, she wouldn't have been shivering in the semi-cold air around her. It wasn't even really all that chilly in reality, she was just used to the tropical island temperatures. She knew how to adapt, but it took her a long time to adapt to new climates. Midori had complained for the longest time that Destiny Islands was far too hot, but now she almost wished that she was back there.

Her mind strayed as she realized how much she thought of that place as home. It wasn't her original home though, the destroyed and twisted place called Forbidden World was. It had been chilly there almost all year round, and she would run around in t-shirts and shorts, not being bothered at all. That wasn't her home anymore though, and the only things that came from it were horrible memories that visited her in her dreams every other night.

Midori saw things that had happened in the past, from both her point of view, and from her monster of an other-half's point of view. She had never told anyone before, but sometimes she felt like the dark part of her, the part that had once made up Crysita, was still there. Technically, she wasn't an active, living force anymore, because she didn't exist, but sometimes, she felt things that didn't really seem to fit a situation. When she first found out that Kairi might be forced to Radiant Garden to marry someone else, she felt bad for her, but another part felt almost smug. When she learned that they were going to Twilight's Destiny, that same part felt almost excited, though she couldn't say why.

There was no way that Crysita was still actually existing inside of her like Roxas and Naminé had with Sora and Kairi, but sometimes, Midori felt like there was something dark trying to push dark memories into her conscious mind.

A loud splash made her stop in her tracks and open her eyes. She curiously followed the noise and found Riku sitting on the grass, throwing rocks into a calm, clear pond. He turned towards her for a second before jerking his head towards the grass beside him, where she quickly sat. Neither dared to utter a single word. It was a competition of sorts, neither wanting to be the first one to break the silence.

Riku ended up breaking the silence a little quicker than Midori expected. He let out a sigh and laid back on the grass, and she turned slightly to stare at him curiously.

"What?" he asked after a moment, realizing that she was staring.

"You want to talk about something," she pointed out. "So get it out Silver. We don't have all night."

"Why are you up?" he asked her, distracting her from what he really wanted to talk about.

She knew exactly what he was doing, but quickly decided that if she wanted to know anything, she would have to play along. "Nightmares."

"Still?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"They won't go away. I don't think they ever do." She shrugged and leaned back, looking up at the sky.

"You know," Riku said slowly, "I always wanted a life with adventure, to explore the worlds. I was never happy on Destiny Islands. I always wanted to know what else was out there. Sora and Kairi were never as interested, you know. They both pretended to be, but they were both content with their lives. I guess I was always jealous of that, especially when I noticed how Kairi started to stare at Sora, and how Sora reacted to her." He sighed. "I always wanted to be in control of everything. I expected—well I never expected any of this to happen. I guess it's just like..." He trailed off with a shrug.

"Like you're being left behind," she finished for him. "Sora and Kairi, they were your best friends for a long time. You and Sora both tried to save her, but Sora was the one her heart went to in the first place. It's true, he was physically closer to her at the time, but if she had trusted you more, her heart still would have went to you. You knew that. They fell in love with each other, and you felt like they left you behind there. Then, Sora became the hero and Kairi showed that she would throw herself into danger for Sora. You could see them growing, changing, becoming independent, better people, but in your eyes, you were slipping. You had always called yourself the better, but now they were both outgrowing you."

"Ever think of taking up psychology?" he asked with a weak laugh. "I guess, somewhere, I still resent them. I don't actually love Kairi anymore, but sometimes I still wish that I had been the one to get her. Sometimes, I even imagine what it'd be like if Sora broke up with her and she ran to me. Then I realize, thinking things like that makes me a horrible person."

Midori smiled slightly and said, "That, Riku, because you know it's not love, is lust. No one can be surprised that you think of her like that every once and a while. Some might even question if you didn't."

Riku seemed to think about that for a moment before saying, "I guess you're right. Doesn't matter anyway. Now I guess...something just feels wrong. It feels like something out there is messing with us, or at least them. I mean, really, what are the odds that not only does Radiant Garden want royalty at any cost, but Twilight's Destiny is coming back together at the exact same time? I mean, sure, you could say it's all pure coincidence, but something just doesn't sit right with all of this." That, and he knew that Kairi was pregnant, and the timing of everything plus that just felt too planned.

"You're right," she agreed. "Something doesn't seem right. These things, it's almost like they're distractions from something else."

"Maybe Twilight's Destiny would have come back either way," Riku said thoughtfully. "Sora would have probably made his way there some day. But someone could have easily manipulated the government of Radiant Garden, they are only new after all. Then someone..." he trailed off, automatically not liking where he was going.

Midori stared at him thoughtfully before her brown eyes narrowed with suspicion and she said, "There's something else, isn't there?"

"I don't know," he lied. "Something just doesn't feel right." As much as he did like Midori, there was no way he was going to betray Sora and Kairi's trust. Neither of them had specifically said not to tell anyone else, but he had the feeling that they didn't want to share the news about the baby yet.

Midori didn't seem to be buying that though. She was still looking at him skeptically.

"Mickey had memories pertaining to all of us," he said, thinking about something else that had bothered him. "I know he never really had time to tell Sora, but I was with him for a long time. They must be important if he's so protective of them. Aqua, Ven…there's something so familiar about those names, but I can't remember what. The point is, why is he suddenly brining them up now?"

Midori shrugged, accepting that answer and said, "Maybe it's because this is the first time you guys have been here without something trying to destroy the universe?"

"I guess."

They sat in silence for a moment, letting the idea of someone planning all of this out to distract them, or something to that effect. Riku honestly didn't know what to make of it. If someone was trying to distract them from something else, that meant that something worse was happening out there and they didn't know about it yet. It was a very unsettling feeling, knowing that an enemy could be out there plotting and they had no real idea of where, how, or why. At least he knew that it wasn't Maleficent this time.

Midori looked up at the sky and asked, "Hey, have you noticed something different about Sora and Kairi?"

His eyes snapped to her and he asked, "What?"

"Please, she was acting like she was as high as a kite earlier, and then she pretty much assaults him with her ice cream? Then, the next time we see them, she's all lovey-dovey again. You can't deny that you haven't noticed."

"They got in a fight this morning," Riku said hesitantly. It wasn't a complete lie, but it wasn't the exact truth either. "A pretty big one for them. Sora told me when I found him sulking. I'm guessing they just made up. Maybe he was going to say something about the fight earlier when she shoved ice cream in his face. I dunno."

"They're strange," Midori said while shaking her head. "I mean, she's been acting so strange that, with being sick, I'd peg her for being pregnant if I didn't know for a fact that they're very careful with birth control."

Riku thought he did a good job at schooling his face at this, but obviously something gave his thoughts away, because as Midori stared at him, her brown eyes went wide and her mouth fell open in shock.

"What? I—how—they—she's _pregnant_?"

"No," he answered a little more quickly than he should have. "No."

"Oh my god, she is," she said with surprise. "Holy crap, suddenly everything makes sense. Is that what they fought over?"

Riku hesitated before saying, "Kairi only told Sora today. They got into a fight about it. I think he was going to say something earlier about it. She doesn't want anyone else to know yet, so you can't tell anyone. Fuck, I am a horrible friend. I can't believe I betrayed them."

"A little mellow dramatic, aren't you?" she asked him.

"No, it's not. I promised I would never betray them in any way ever again," Riku snapped angrily. "This isn't a small thing to let slip. How could you even tell?"

"It was just the look on your face," Midori said. "Nobody else probably would have noticed but…wow…so everything really is happening all at once but—" A troubled look appeared on her face.

"But what?"

"The only way I can see someone purposely making her pregnant as a distraction, you know, aside from being like Jorix, is if someone messed up her pills or something. That's really unsettling, because she kept them at our house."

"So if someone broke in to do that, who says that they didn't do anything else," Riku finished, realizing where she was going. "I never thought of that."

"Think we should tell them?"

"You aren't going to say anything to them," he said sharply. "Them or anyone else. You're going to pretend that, when they tell everyone, that you're just hearing it for the first time."

"You don't trust me." She seemed almost hurt by this.

"I don't want anything to happen to any of my friends," he replied. "I'm just thankful you're good at hiding things. You probably won't blow it like I did."

"What makes you think I'm good at hiding things?"

For a moment, Riku stared at her oddly. It might have been his imagination, but she seemed a little worried about something. He shrugged it aside and said, "You kept the whole Crysita thing quiet for months."

"I suppose," she agreed. "I won't tell a soul, I promise."

The air around them felt heavy, and the tension could easily be cut with a knife. Midori desperately wanted to change the subject to something more amicable and asked the first thing that came to her mind. "Why do you date someone for only a few weeks before casting them side?" She wanted to smack herself. Tact was something she should probably work on.

He frowned a bit, biting back his instantaneous response of it not being her business. He shrugged a bit and said, "I'm not sure who or what I want from life. We're only teenagers, we might as well have fun with it while it lasts, right? I mean, Sora and Kairi, they're the rare couple that stays together. It usually doesn't happen. The only reason I think it's the same with Roxas and Naminé is because they lived in Sora and Kairi so long. I just, I like them and then I don't. Besides, you've gone on how many dates with random people and have never called them back after?"

"That's different. I just went on a single date with them and I made it clear that's all I wanted to do. I didn't lead anyone on," she said slowly. "You probably broke a lot of hearts. I've heard rumors. Parents don't like you all too much. They say you have a 'bang 'em, leave 'em' sort of attitude."

He shrugged and said, "I suppose I do. I guess that's why you don't really trust me, right?"

She understood what he was getting at but didn't reply. She just continued staring up at the sky. They sat in silence for a moment until they heard voices coming towards them. Both looked around and saw Mickey, Donald and Goofy approaching, talking animatedly to one another.

"Hey guys," Midori called out, visibly startling all of them.

"Gawrsh Midi," Goofy said while rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Ya scared us."

"No she didn't," Donald argued. "I knew she was there."

"Where were you guys?" Riku asked curiously.

"We need to get away from people too ya know," Mickey said with a smile. "Like your wife—"

"—Or your girlfriend—" Donald added.

"—Or your son." Goofy agreed.

Before either could comment on that, a loud explosion startled them all. Midori and Riku jumped to their feet quickly, looking up at the castle as a second explosion rocked the ground. They could see the debris, dirt and dust flying, but there were no flames accompanying the blasts.

"What's going on?" Goofy cried out as he stumbled a bit while another loud crash rocked the grounds around them.

"I thought the Cornerstone—"

"Just because something's here that shouldn't be, doesn't mean it's dark," Mickey said quickly, rushing towards the castle. "It looks like it's on the fourth floor!"

"That's where our rooms are!" Midori said.

"Kairi!" Riku exclaimed suddenly, his eyes widening with realization.

Donald and Goofy looked at each other with bewilderment for a moment before rushing after them.

**VVVVVVVV  
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They weren't the only ones to come to that conclusion. Sora and Kairi fell asleep while watching a movie in their room, so when the first explosion rocked the castle, they were quick to run out of their room, fully clothed, unlike Roxas and Naminé, who appeared in their pajamas.

"Your shirt's on backwards," Kairi said, pointing at Roxas.

He stared at her oddly and asked, "So you're not going to ask about that horrible sound, but about my clothes?"

"I'm allowed to have moments of insanity."

"Really Kairi?"

"Ummm...guys?" Naminé said slowly, stepping between them. "Something's going on, and you're here arguing. Not cool."

There was a sudden bang, and Kairi let out a startled scream. Sora wrapped his arms around her, and kept her steady. Roxas and Naminé both moved so that they were beside their friends, staring down the hall where the sound had come from. There was another loud bang, causing them all to jump. Roxas frowned, taking a few steps forward where the sound was coming from. He stared at the brick wall oddly before suddenly turning around, moving away from the wall, and yelling, "Get down!" Everything happened too quickly though. He barely got the chance to yell his warning before the wall exploded.

Sora managed to cover both Kairi and Naminé from the flying debris. Roxas wasn't so lucky.

There was silence for a moment, before Naminé scrambled out from underneath Sora. She ignored the rocks, rubble, and the thick dust. She tried to call out Roxas' name, but all she could do was cough on the debris in the air.

She finally caught sight of dirty, spiked blond hair. She rushed over, coughing violently as she practically threw herself to the floor at his side, ignoring the sharp rocks digging into her knees. She quietly observed Roxas, who was unconscious, but still visibly breathing. There was an incredibly heavy slab of stone on him.

Naminé instinctively wanted to take the heavy stone off of Roxas' back, knowing that it could be slowly crushing him, but at the same time, she knew that if something had pierced him, than moving it could hurt him more. She settled for waiting for someone with more medical experience than she had.

Sora pushed himself to his knees, his arm wrapped protectively around Kairi, who was shaking and coughing. He squeezed her arm gently and asked, "Are you okay?"

She nodded her head and said, "Yeah. I'm okay. But what—oh my god, Roxas!"

Sora's head whipped around from his girlfriend to his brother, but before either of them could make a move to go to Roxas and Naminé, a figure appeared in the dusty air.

With the loud wailing alarms shut off, it seemed almost eerily quiet as the figure walked slowly towards them. Its steps were very light, as if they only just brushed over the top of the rubble on the ground.

As it came closer, Sora couldn't help but notice something odd about it. It looked humanoid, but at the same time, it reminded him of a Nobody. When it got to Naminé, who was shielding an unconscious Roxas, Sora could see that it was pure black with glowing yellow eyes, but he also knew that it wasn't a Heartless.

It stared at Naminé for a moment, its golden eyes almost curious, before it continued walking towards Sora and Kairi. Sora quickly got to his feet, pulling Kairi up with him, and holding her close. Kairi couldn't help but just stare at the odd creature, fear and wonder mixing on her face.

The creature stopped walking before suddenly it looked like it was changing shape. They watched in silence as its tall, very thin figure became shorter and curved, colour beginning to appear on its body.

Kairi let out a gasp when it was done changing. It looked exactly like her.

Sora clutched Kairi a little tighter, not quite sure what to make of the situation.

"I can make myself look like whatever I want," the fake Kairi said, but her voice caused the hair on the back of all of their necks to stand on end. It sounded like Kairi, but the voice was so bland that it was eerie.

"Why would you make yourself look like me?" Kairi demanded, her eyes narrowing at the creature as she gripped Sora's shirt tightly. She wasn't really afraid for herself at the moment, she was more afraid of Sora. Logically speaking, she knew that she was Sora's weakness, and that thing turning into her could easily mess with his mind.

"Because I can't talk in my natural form," she said simply. Pointing at Sora, she added, "Plus it messes with his mind." It was a blunt way to prove Kairi's theory right.

"What are you?" Naminé asked slowly. She wasn't sure why this creature wasn't attacking them and was just talking.

"I'm what you call an Endless," the fake-Kairi said with a rather evil smirk. "I have no beginning and I have no end. It's impossible to destroy me. Specifically, if you want to know, I'm a Dreamweaver Endless. I'm a special type. Oh, don't look so surprised that I actually told you. It doesn't matter. You couldn't defeat me if you tried."

"Want a bet?" Sora growled at her, summoning his Keyblade into his hand. Kairi and Naminé quickly followed suit, summoning Stormfall and Chain of Memories.

The Dreamweaver Endless looked around with almost amusement. She chuckled a bit before pointing at Sora and Kairi and saying, "You're Keyblades are useless against me." She did seem a bit wary of Naminé's though, moving away from the blonde.

"Now," the Endless said while clapping her hands together. "I'm not really here to do anything, the destruction was just for fun. I'm here to pass on a message from my master."

"Yeah—what's that?" a voice choked out, and Naminé let out a gasp. She turned around and saw that Roxas was just barely conscious, glaring up at the fake Kairi.

She suddenly giggled, looking at Sora and Kairi, and though she looked exactly like Kairi at that moment with her sweet smile, it was still very unsettling for Sora.

She pointed at Sora again, and Kairi quickly let go of him, moving in front of him and glaring heatedly despite his protests for her to move back. The Endless seemed amused by this and said, "My Master wanted you to know that the end will be coming soon. We will find the light at the end of the darkness. All the pieces are coming together and there is nothing that you can do about it. What he set out to do years ago will finally come to pass." With a smirk, she added, "And a personal message from me: you really should be careful what you wish for Keyblade Master. You never know if it will come true. I can see your dreams, you're nightmares, and I gotta say, it's pretty dark for even you. It's amusing. So I hope you enjoy living in those nightmares for a while."

It happened so fast. One minute she was just standing there, the next there was a ball of light heading towards Sora and Kairi. He quickly grabbed her around the waist and spun them around so that the attack crashed into his back instead of hitting her in the chest.

Kairi let out a scream of surprise at what happened, and looked around with terror as Sora's eyes closed and he tumbled to the ground. She turned quickly and tried to catch him, but his dead weight caused her to fall to the floor, her knees making harsh contact with the broken marble and cement around them. "Sora?" she whispered in almost a pleading voice, gently shaking him. "Sora? Wake up!"

"Oh hush up," the Endless said in almost a whisper so that only Kairi could hear. "He's not physically hurt. I just forced his mind to be trapped in his worse nightmares. My specialty. I'll just be going now. Oh, and congratulations on the baby. My Master is very pleased, and we're all looking forward to when it's born." With that, she vanished.

Silence practically echoed around them as Naminé knelt beside Roxas, gripping his hand with her own tightly. Kairi, likewise, was kneeling down, but with Sora's head resting in her lap. One of her hands was resting in his hair, the other was on her stomach. Her eyes were wide, a stunned and fearful expression on her face.

Moments later, Mickey came rushing into the room with Donald, Goofy, Max, and many of the knights of Disney Castle behind him. Seeing that there was no immediate danger, he quickly assigned those that came in to either help Roxas, or to check on Sora.

"Kairi?" Riku asked as he appeared moments later, kneeling beside her while Midori ran passed them to check on Roxas. When she didn't respond, he placed a hand on her shoulder and said her name again.

Slowly, she tore her eyes away from the spot in front of her, looking at him with fearful indigo irises and whispered, "How did it know? How did it know that I was pregnant?"

"What?" he asked, visibly surprised.

Kairi shook her head quickly before looking back down at Sora and saying, "She said that she forced his mind to be tapped in his nightmares. Riku, we have to find a way to wake him up."

When Kairi looked back at him, Riku saw tears building up in her eyes. He frowned before looking down at Sora and nodding. It was more of a struggle than he remembered from when they were younger, but he managed to stand up, picking up Sora under his arm in the process. Kairi worriedly stayed at his side, her gaze only leaving Sora when another voice spoke to them.

"Is he okay?" Roxas choked out slowly from on the stretcher that had been created with Naminé's magic, four brooms holding it straight. Donald had looked Roxas over, and using magic, he had assessed that it was safe to move the stone on him, but Donald wasn't a healer. He couldn't judge if there was anything wrong with the boy's spine or not, so he gave the orders to be incredible careful and to keep his back straight no matter what. This meant that his head was forced to stay straight and he was strapped down so that he couldn't move and injure himself more.

"He'll be fine," Midori answered quickly as she approached them. She didn't know if it was true, but she knew that Roxas shouldn't worry right now.

"Kay," he muttered and closed his eyes. The brooms started walking away, and though Naminé seemed a little confused about where she should go for a moment, she quickly decided to follow Roxas.

"Donald, can you go with them to make sure nothing goes wrong?" Mickey asked.

Though the duck was worried for his friend, he nodded his head and said, "Alright." With a worried look over his shoulder, Donald followed after the brooms, Roxas and Naminé.

"Move so you're holding his arms Riku," Midori ordered him. "I'll grab his feet. That way you're not dragging him across the floor like that. I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate it."

Riku nodded and soon, the two of them were moving their friend in towards the secure part of the castle, Goofy walked with them to make sure nothing happened, but as Kairi went to follow, Mickey put a hand on her arm and she stopped to look at him.

"Kairi, I know it might be hard, but what was it? What did it look like?"

She bit her lip, wanting to just chase after Sora. Logically speaking though, there was a chance that Mickey might have run across something like this creature so if she could give him details, he might be able to help Sora quicker.

"It was this thing. It looked like…I don't know…humanoid but really bendy like a Nobody but black like a Heartless with yellow eyes like one too. Then, it changed. It said that it chose to look exactly like me, to mess with Sora. Probably if he had to fight it. Then it, she, whatever, she said she was an Endless. I don't even know what an Endless is. She said she was a Dreamweaver and that her Master was happy that I well I—and I'm scared. I don't know what she did to Sora—" Kairi suddenly stopped ranting and ended up slumping down to the floor.

For a moment, Mickey panicked. He was able to keep her steady so she didn't just fall. He realized after a moment though that she was still conscious, holding her head.

"I don't feel good," she admitted to Mickey after a moment. "I—my head hurts, a lot and I'm just suddenly really tired."

"Come on, we'll get you back to your room. You can rest and when you wake up I'm sure Sora will be fine," the mouse encouraged, letting her rest a bit of weight on him as she pushed herself back up. A few brooms came around them, staying close, just in case.

"Sora can't stay here," Kairi said randomly as they walked up the stairs. "If she wouldn't have been bashing down the walls, we never would have known that she was here, would we?"

"No, you're right," he agreed. "We should move him and Roxas. But—well…I suppose the safest place would actually be Twilight's Destiny. Radiant Garden, someone might try to kidnap you. Destiny Islands, they'd find him. Twilight Town, same thing. Are you sure you're okay?" He asked the last question as they reached her room.

She yawned and said, "I'm tired, really tired and my head hurts and I just—" Tears welded up in her eyes.

"Hey, it's okay. They're just symptoms. Have you been taking vitamins? That's important."

This visibly startled her and she looked around and down.

"Minnie figured it out first," Mickey explained. "Then she shared her suspicion with me to see if she was insane or if I noticed it too. When you're looking for it, it's obvious."

Kairi took a deep breath, and leaned against the wall, sliding down it until she was sitting on the floor. She looked at him helplessly and said, "Something bad is going to happen, isn't it?"

Mickey hesitated before answering, "It feels like it. Just like before you guys got dragged into this the first time, and just like years ago."

"I'm just adding to the troubles then," she said with a frown. "I—we will just be in the way."

"I'm not here to lecture you," Mickey assured her. "It might make a few things more difficult, but don't think about that, okay? I'll go see if Minnie or Daisy know anyone who can get you some vitamins. You go to sleep. It's more important for you to take care of yourself now than ever. You know Sora wouldn't want you to hurt yourself. I'll come and get you when we move him."

She nodded her head and walked into the room. She wanted to cry, if only because she was so worried. She didn't have the chance to though. The second her head hit the pillow, she was dead asleep.

**VVVVVVVV  
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**Author's Note**

I am going to MURDER this story. I swear. Remember how I ranted about a chapter I couldn't finish last time? Guess what? Still not done. Ugh, anyone want to write two fight scenes for me? Kidding (sort of). It'll get done…sometime…

Seriously, we need a new game, or at least information on a new game soon. I'm starting to get a little bored.

So, zero new KH stuff going on + writer's block + working more hours than I should be = faily story.

Honestly, I didn't really go over this chapter for grammar or spelling at all, so I hope you all had fun with that!

Also, I'm in the middle of a Harry Potter week-long marathon before the midnight showing, so you never know, maybe I'll get around to writing something about Harry Potter (again) for a change.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and I am sorry that it took so long for me to update. This includes: shelbysnake7, Atem's Sister Atea, Twilight Cardmistress, Shifuni, Trainalf, The 666th necrophiliac, Q-A the Authoress, Eddie Camp, 16afoster, Colonel Mycroft, EvilxLittlexNinja and Shire Folk!

Right, as opposed to last time, I do have different types of Endless planned out, so we'll meet those as we (eventually) get through the story.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	12. Everybody Hurts

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Eleven: Everybody Hurts_

It took a few days for Roxas to heal properly, but that came as no surprise, given that his spine was almost crushed. He was extremely lucky, because though his magic wasn't quite up to the caliber as Sora, Mickey and Kairi, and nowhere near the level of Naminé and Donald, he was able to erect a barrier in the split second between the explosion and the rocks hitting him. That, the doctor said, was the only thing to stop him from either becoming paraplegic, or dying. Naminé was more than grateful that she worked with Roxas on being able to create shield spells quickly. With strict monitoring, and some powerful potions that none of them ever encountered before (with the hilarious side-effect of him being basically high), Roxas was up and moving around in a few days. There was still some pain, and he was told not to put too much strain on himself, but he managed to assure everyone that he was, in fact, okay.

Sora, on the other hand, had yet to wake up. Unlike his brother, he was physically fine. There wasn't even a small bruise where the attack hit him. Instead, he tossed and turned at some points of time, screaming and crying in his sleep at others, and sometimes he was almost deathly still.

Kairi wanted to stay with him, but it was Queen Minnie who stepped in and put her foot down. She explained that it would be too stressful for Kairi to stay with him and hear his screams, and she would be putting not only herself in danger, but her unborn child as well. They weren't going to keep her away from him during the day (the screaming and crying only seemed to come at night), but at night she needed to sleep in a separate room. They also warned Kairi not to take any sleeping pills, and to take as few drugs as possible.

Through the entire thing though, Kairi was incredibly emotional. Sometimes, she would even break into tears. When she got into these moods, it was surprisingly Roxas who was able to calm her down.

This surprised Donald, who expected Naminé to be able to calm her down the most, having gone through worrying about her boyfriend as well. He was a little startled to stumble across Kairi sobbing hysterically with Roxas hugging her, trying to calm her down. Naminé simply explained that Roxas had the same sort of aura to him that Sora did, so it was instinctively comforting for Kairi to be around him. She went through the same thing when Roxas had a skateboarding accident, and Sora was the only one who could calm her down. Besides, when she saw Roxas hugging Kairi, it wasn't like she saw competition. She saw a brother trying to comfort his sister (more sister-in-law in this case, even though she wasn't actually married to Sora yet). It was like watching her interact with Riku.

Kairi started sleeping a lot, and it was enough to worry all of the people who knew about her condition. Mickey called in a doctor, but Kairi was reluctant to have her examine her. She didn't want to do anything without Sora, but Riku convinced her that Sora would want her to make sure that everything was alright with both her and the baby, so she had her first prenatal exam.

This exam couldn't happen in Disney Castle, because of some equipment that they needed, so Minnie offered to escort Kairi to the best doctor around, a kind woman named Mary Lillith.

The good thing about going with Minnie was that they didn't have to wait long in a waiting room, because nobody wanted the Queen of Disney to wait.

Kairi's hands were shaking, and though it was reassuring to have Minnie with her, Kairi desperately wanted Sora there as a nurse led them to a room.

"What's that for?" Kairi asked when she saw a pink hospital gown on the bed.

Before Minnie could answer, Dr. Lillith walked into the room, glancing down at the chart with the information that Minnie brought with them from the castle. She was a middle-aged woman with curly brown hair tied back into a high ponytail, and happy, bright brown eyes.

She glanced up at them and said, "Queen Minnie, it's an honour. And this must be Kairi." If she was shocked to see how young Kairi actually was, she didn't let it show.

"Yes," Kairi answered shyly. "I'm Kairi Kokoro." She shook the doctor's hand.

"I see that your last name might not be Kokoro for long," Dr. Lillith said, nodding to her ring. "As for the gown, you'll need to change into that, because we're in for a long visit today. We need to go through your medical history, what you know about the father's history, a few physical exams, and go over different lifestyle changes that you'll need to make. Do you know which one you'd like to do first sweetheart?"

Kairi blushed a bit and shrugged.

"Alright then. Have you ever seen a gynecologist before?"

Kairi shook her head shyly.

"I can't say I'm too surprised. According to this file, you are only 18. The physical may be a little bit uncomfortable for you, so we should probably go through the health history after you get changed, if that's alright with you?"

"Yeah, it's fine," she mumbled. Queen Minnie and Dr. Lillith turned away as Kairi quickly shed her clothes and pulled on the pink hospital gown, getting back in the bed. She just wanted this over and done with so that she could get back to Sora.

"Okay, first thing's first, how is your menstrual cycle?"

Kairi gave her the weirdest look and said, "Bloody?"

The doctor laughed and said, "Is it irregular?"

"Oh, no. I've always been incredibly regular, and it only lasts five days, never any more or less."

"That's a good sign. Now, in order to figure out the due date, tell me when was the first day of your last menstrual cycle? That's what we count from, not the date of conception."

Kairi thought about it before frowning heavily. She remembered from her biology class that there were technically only about three days (it depended on the person) when women could get pregnant, just before and during ovulation. She worked it out in her mind and frowned. There was no way she could have gotten pregnant on her birthday. It was only two days after her menstrual cycle. She had been focusing on the fact that she was pregnant, because she was, and she knew it couldn't have been any earlier, because she had her period, but it couldn't be any later, because the last time they slept together was on her birthday.

She voiced this to the doctor, who put down her papers and stared at her with confusion.

"That's not—are you positive, Kairi?"

"Yes," she said with a nod. "You can check with tests, right?"

"Yes, we can, and we may need to. I've never heard of this happening before."

"Is it possible," Minnie interrupted. "That magic was used on her for some reason?"

Dr. Lillith frowned and said, "Magic is a variable that I would never suggest introducing to the inner workings of a body, unless it involves healing it in a major pinch. I'm a woman of science, not a sorceress, but I suppose it is possible that someone could have forced you to ovulate with magic."

Kairi thought about that for a moment before her face screwed up in a startled look and she said, "But that means…someone wanted me to get pregnant."

"So it would seem."

Kairi's mind went on the fritz at those words. Someone wanted her to get pregnant enough to mess up her normal bodily functions. She worked it out, realizing that the change in hormones would have rendered her pill essentially useless. It all made horrifying sense.

"This certainly is a mystery that we will look into," Minnie piped up. "But, what's done is done. We can only hope to keep both of you healthy and safe now."

Kairi tried to refocus her mind, realizing that Minnie was right. There would be a time to find out why this was happening, but right now, she needed to get through this appointment.

She went through the symptoms that she had, explaining that she was fairly tired, sore, she cried a lot, and she had a fainting spell only once. The only thing that Dr. Lillith found odd was that Kairi was so hungry. Most women could barely eat because of the nausea. It wasn't completely unheard of though.

The questions were easy enough about Kairi's physical health. The only form of medication she took were her birth control pills, and she stopped them when she found out that she was pregnant. She was allergic to penicillin, and had no psychiatric problems.

She uncomfortably admitted that, at one point, she had a curable sexually transmitted disease, and that was also the same time she had stabbed her uterus twice. She hadn't been in her right mind after being tortured and raped.

Dr. Lillith frowned at this information and she said, "Have you seen a therapist about this?"

"No. I don't think about it much. Now that I'm pregnant though, I have nightmares about it more frequently. Unless Sora's with me. See, our hearts are connected, and I can instinctively feel when he's there, and it calms me down."

"Well, this is certainly the first time that I'll have to recommend cuddling for such high levels of stress. The emotional distress this may cause is a little worrisome, and we will definitely have to watch it. Stress is not good for your child."

"My life is built on stress," Kairi said with a sigh. "My boyfriend's not here because we were attacked by these strange monsters and he was put into some kind of nightmare-coma."

The doctor didn't comment on that, but made a note. When it came to family history, Kairi felt embarrassed that she couldn't answer most of the questions about herself. She had no idea about her biological family, only that Naminé was her cousin. Twins ran in the family, but there didn't seem to be any problems. She knew more about Sora's history, because she remembered Ayame talking about how her mother (Sora's grandmother) had a heart condition, but it didn't seem to be genetic, and everyone else was clear. The only problem was that Ayame had a problem having children.

The questions were easy enough, but then came the physical tests, and they made Kairi wary. Because she knew almost next to nothing about her own medical history, the doctor was going to have to do nearly every type of blood test and screening in the book. Kairi nodded her head to the list, but she doubted that she'd be able to get to most of them.

She didn't have a problem with the vast amount of blood tests that had to be done, or even urinating in a cup, but she was incredibly embarrassed about the idea of having a pelvic exam, something that every television show and movie in existence seemed to skip over.

Due to the fact that they had no idea what was really going on with her own cycle, she needed to have an ultrasound as well to figure out a due date. It wasn't what Kairi was expecting, because TValso left out the fact that there were other types of ultrasounds that did not involve squirting cold jelly onto her stomach. Nobody ever told her that something called a transvaginal ultrasound existed; and she certainly wasn't prepared for it.

"Now, we're not even going to try to hear a heartbeat yet. It's still a bit too early. However, I will be able to assess the possible scarring in your uterus, and we'll get a better picture, as well as your due date."

Kairi nodded and stared at the screen, not quite sure what she was looking at. The Dr. Lillith muttered to herself, and Minnie held Kairi's hand for reassurance, something the redhead was grateful for.

"Well, there is a bit of scarring, but I can't see it being too much of a problem. We'll watch it though. Given the growth, I'd say that you were correct with a mid-May conception. I'd put you at about nine weeks right now." The doctor turned to Kairi and smiled as she pointed at the screen. "See that? I know, it looks more like a potato with the beginnings of legs, but that's your baby."

Kairi's mouth fell open as she stared at the image. Now that she looked at it, she could see where the head, and legs were developing, and though it didn't look like a human right now, she still felt tears welling up in her eyes. Right there was photographic proof that there was a baby inside of her.

Kairi could barely concentrate on the end of the appointment when Dr. Lillith gave her some advice on healthy lifestyle choices, including things like eating, exercise and travel. Dr. Lillth gave her a copy of the ultrasound, and she couldn't tear her eyes away from it.

Minnie was incredibly helpful though, making sure to buy every book that Dr. Lillith suggested on the way back, even managing to hide them from everyone else.

"Thank you, for coming with me Minnie," Kairi said to the mouse at they walked back to the castle. "It means everything to me. I think being there would have freaked Sora out, even if he was awake, and I didn't want to go on my own. Thank you."

**VVVVVVVV**

Kairi stared off into space as she sat on her bed. Already, her clothes were packed away, and the picture and a few of the books Minnie gave her were safely in her backpack.

She hadn't been able to calm her thoughts since her appointment. Something manipulated her into becoming pregnant.

She couldn't help but feel scared. Something wanted her pregnant, and she had a feeling it wasn't just to get her out of the fight. She had a feeling that something wanted her baby, but not just hers, Sora's as well. It was the only thing that made sense. Otherwise, whatever it was would have taken her and—

She shuddered at the thought as she laid back on her bed, her hand resting on her stomach as she thought. She couldn't pinpoint anything happening out of the ordinary, but it was fully possible that someone had slipped her, Sora, or both of them, something at the party. Potions tended to be fast working, so it might have sped up the ovulation process. It was the only thing she could think of.

Kairi honestly doubted that she'd get to the other appointments Dr. Lillith scheduled for her. She was not staying behind. She would stay on the gummi ship if she had to, but she would not be leaving Sora's side. If something had gotten close enough to her to alter her biological functions, than the only truly safe place that she could think of was with Sora.

They were finally moving him that day, and though they weren't exactly sure what was going to be in Twilight's Destiny, getting Sora out of Disney was the best thing that they could do. Mickey was a little worried about his home, but Minnie assured him that they were putting up extra protection around the castle and not to worry. That's why Kairi was packing. It wasn't just Sora though, they figured that the farther all of the Keyblade Bearers were from Disney, the better.

She was pleasantly surprised that, though she felt slightly nauseous, she didn't feel all that bad and hadn't thrown up. Though she tended to tear up easily, but that was because of how strongly her heart was connected to Sora. She may have been forced to stay in another room, but she could still feel Sora's fear, his pain, and it wasn't making her feel any better.

She was still staring up at the ceiling, everything packed, when she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in," she called out, not paying attention to who it was.

Riku walked in, observing her for a moment before saying, "We moved Sora onto the ship already. Someone's going to have to stay with him though. Whatever's happening in his mind, he's not reacting well to it. We keep trying to get nutrients into his body but he keeps throwing up and gagging. The others didn't want me to tell you, but I thought you deserved to know."

Kairi pushed back her tears as she moved, jumping off of the bed, and she said, "I know. I just want him to wake up."

"I do too Kai," Riku said as he picked up the bag of Sora's items that she had packed. "You may be his _fiancée_ (he said the word teasingly), but don't forget, he's my best friend too." There was a pause before he asked, "Are you feeling alright?"

"I little sick, but compared to before, it's not that bad," she admitted. "But I can feel Sora. He's so scared Riku. I just—I don't know what to do."

Riku's expression softened as he saw her tears fall and he reached out, drawing her into his arms as she cried. He knew that she would be shaken up about this in normal circumstances, but now her emotions were completely out of control.

"Did you take your vitamins?" he asked her once she had composed herself.

Kairi eyed him for a moment before saying, "Yes mom."

"Hey, don't take that tone of voice with me missy. Otherwise we might have to stop at Destiny Islands and tell your mom about this."

Kairi paled and shook her head quickly before saying, "If you do, I swear you'll only ever be an honorary uncle, because you won't be able to have kids. She's going to be so disappointed when she finds out. Sora's mom would have been too. Hell, my mom would probably keep me there and not let me leave."

"Sora's mom was a little proper," Riku admitted, quickly swiping her bag off of her shoulder, despite her protest. "We know why now. She would come around though. She loved Sora too much not to love his child too."

Kairi smiled a bit and said, "That what I told him too. Thank you, Riku."

"No problem," he replied, slinging his arm over her shoulder and guiding her out of the room. "Now let's get going."

**VVVVVVVV**

He let out a sob, trying not to look at the room he was in. There were bodies strewn across the floor, not a single one completely whole. He could hear the sound of his shoes meeting liquid on the hard surface of the floor, but he chose not to look, because if he did he was sure that he would feel like throwing up again.

Sora didn't think of himself as a dark person, but these nightmares, they were coming from his mind, so they had to come from somewhere dark within him. He wasn't even sure what was nightmares and what was reality anymore. Maybe the peaceful world where Kairi had been at his side had been a happy dream all along, and this was the vicious, cruel reality he lived in.

It was cold in the room he was in. It didn't surprise him though, because he was always cold. Not just in a physical way. He felt numb on the inside too. He couldn't count how many times he had watched all of his friends and family die, each time more horrific than the next.

Sometimes, Sora would see things that weren't anywhere as violent as that. Sometimes, he would think that he had escaped the nightmares because everything seemed so peaceful and happy, but then he would just be pulled back into misery. He wasn't sure if he could take much more of it.

There was a door in front of him, and though he didn't know what was behind it, he had no choice but to open it. The only other option was to stay in the room that he was in with the dead bodies on his friends. He pushed open the door, and winced as light suddenly entered his eyes. He blindly walked through the entrance, the door crashing loudly behind him. Then, everything went oddly silent for a moment, until he heard something. It was familiar.

His eyes shot open and he instantly felt embarrassed when he realized he was seeing himself and Kairi in a rather interesting situation. He blushed deeply and moved to look away, only to stumble on an empty can on the floor. He looked at it with confusion before his eyes widened and he looked at the discarded clothes on the floor. Those were what they wore to her birthday party.

Sora realized that he was seeing the dream, a vision he now realized, that warned him of what would happen. He had seen it nearly a year before the event actually took place. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he had known that maybe being with her intimately that night wasn't a good idea, because he remembered hesitating before taking her upstairs. How he wished that he had listened to his instincts and not his urges.

Then, just as the scene started to shift and change, Sora remembered that there was more to the dream than that. He felt his breath catch in his throat when he saw Kairi being held by odd creatures, a knight standing over her. Something was different this time around though. He knew it was. It wasn't the exact same dream anymore. It took him a minute to realize that the knight was holding his Keyblade differently. Instead of striking Kairi with the blade, Sora watched as he smashed the hilt into her head. The scene didn't fade away or change this time.

The creatures let go of her, vanishing, and Kairi fell to the ground, curled up onto her side. One hand held her head as blood seeped down the side of the face, and the other clutching her round stomach. She was still conscious, and she was crying. Sora tried to run to her, but there was a barrier in the way.

"I'm sorry," he heard her whimper. "I—Sora!" He felt his gut wrench with horror as he heard her call out his name. He desperately wanted to go to her, but he couldn't

"Shut up!" the knight growled. Sora felt his heart stop when he realized that it wasn't just any voice coming from the knight, it was his voice.

Then it hit him, Kairi wasn't calling for him, she was pleading for him to stop.

"No, no," he whispered as the knight's helmet started to vanish. "Please have black hair. Please." He remembered the twisted boy he had met that looked and sounded almost exactly like him. His prayers were unheard though. The knight didn't have black hair and vicious yellow eyes. He had light brown hair and angry blue eyes.

"Sora, please," he heard Kairi plead.

"You," Sora watched himself snap, wincing at the hate in the tone of voice, "should have got an abortion when you had the chance." He brought back his foot and brought it towards her stomach in a swift kick.

"No!" Sora yelled, and a split second before the foot could make contact with her stomach, the scene froze. Kairi vanished, but the other him stayed.

Dream-Sora turned to face him, staring at him blankly and saying, "What, this is your dream. This is what you want."

"No it's not! I would never hurt Kairi!" Sora argued back.

Dream-Sora folded his arms in front of him, gave the real Sora a disbelieving look and said, "Maybe not, but you're not to happy about the kid. Even if you haven't admitted it to yourself, you'd rather not have it. Funny, isn't it? Mr. Almost-Pure-Light seems to be channeling the little bit of darkness you have at an unborn child. Suppose it's easier when it doesn't have a face that you can see, right?"

"Shut up!"

"Why should I? It's true. There are a lot of things that can happen, but you know none of them will be good. Want me to go over them for you? Any way you look at it, this child is going to cause you misery. Example: This child is going to have so much light in it that it will be weak and fragile. You'll have to constantly take care of it. Eventually, neither of you will be able to stand the other."

"That's a lie!" Sora growled.

"Right. Building on that, she'll meet someone who can stand to take care of such a needy child and she'll leave you and go with him. You're not what matters to her any more. Just that parasite in her."

"Stop it!"

"Or how about this one? Remember when she stabbed herself? That leaves scarring behind, scarring that can rupture. She goes into labour when no one is around, she and the monster both die. It'll be all your fault. Or it will live and she'll die and you'll be stuck with it."

Sora could stop the tears from running down his face as he growled, "Stop! Just shut up!"

"Whatever way you look at it, it'll be your fault. She dies, your fault. She leaves, your fault. Kid dies, your fault. It's just going to make you miserable. No matter which path you look at, everything you know and love with be gone, because of a parasite that you can easily get rid of right now."

"STOP!"

Dream-Sora was about to open his mouth again, but he froze. A few seconds went by before he shattered into pieces, just like a twisted mirror. The real Sora slumped down, tears streaking down his face.

"I don't want that, I don't," he whispered to himself, visibly upset. "Oh god, I'm just going to hurt her. I can't—I—it'll be my fault. I can't do this. I can't. I don't want to hurt either of them."

"The only way you'll hurt her is if you run."

His head snapped up and his found himself staring into a pair of cerulean eyes, ones identical to his own. Though he was staring down at the woman now, her size small compared to his, he felt the tears build up in his eyes as he whispered, "Mom?"

Ayame Hikari smiled at her young son, placing a hand on his cheek and whispered, "Sora."

He tried to hold it in, he really did, but he ended up choking and letting out a sob. He practically threw himself on the woman, burying his face into her hair. "Mom."

"Oh Sora," she whispered as she hugged him tightly, running her fingers through his hair like she always did to calm him down when he was little. "It's okay honey."

"I messed up mom. I messed up really good. I—don't know if I can make it right. I don't know if I can fix this. I miss you so much."

"Sweetie, I miss you too," Ayame said. "You're strong, you can get through anything. You know I love you and that I'm always with you, right?"

"Yeah," he said, sounding like a small, scared child. "I don't know what to do. You must be ashamed of me. Kairi's pregnant and we're only eighteen and I don't know what to do."

"Sora, look at me," she demanded. He took a step back and stared down at his mother, expecting to see disappointment on her face. Instead, tears were in her eyes. "I am so sorry. So, so sorry. I know I always said that I'd be harsh if this ever happened, and I know how you promised never to force her into a position where she couldn't make her own choices. But that wasn't fair of me. You are a good person. I know you will stick with her, and I know you will both be amazing parents. I'd be disappointed in you if you ran from this. You have to stay with her. This is going to be the hardest thing that Kairi has ever gone through and without you, she might not be able to."

"But—but what I just…"

"Was purely a nightmare. Purely fictional. What you saw a long time ago, a knight trying to hurt her…I can't say that it will happen, but I can tell you that the knight does exist, and he's not you. You're under a spell, and your mind is being forced into the worst nightmares possible. The spell is taking advantage of any speck of fear you feel, any worry. You started remembering your other dream, and it latched on to the ending, twisting it. You can't hide your fear from yourself, so it made your fear materialize in front of you. You're scared to hurt her."

"This doesn't seem like a nightmare though. My mind made you up, right? So what's going to happen now?" Sora asked quietly.

"No, you're mind didn't make me up. This may be a dream, but I'm really here. You were suffering, and though the spell would go it's course and you would wake up, I couldn't watch you in so much pain. So I intervened, even if I wasn't supposed to. You and your brothers were my world, but you were all I had left. I can't let anything happen to you. Or to Roxas. You can leave these nightmares now."

"What if my nightmare was right? What if I just—"

"Sora, you would never hurt Kairi. You and I both know that. You would give up anything to make her smile, and that's what you're going to do. I know you're heart better than you realize, and I know that while it seems hard and impossible now, you'll open up to the baby too. Just don't take too long, for Kairi's sake. I'm so proud of you Sora," Ayame said, unable to hold back her own tears now. "It's time to go home."

"Mom!" Sora exclaimed as she started to vanish. He took a deep breath, knowing he couldn't stop her from disappearing and said, "I love you mom. Roxas does too."

"I know. I love both of you too."

With that, he finally fell to sleep in a peaceful slumber instead of horrifying nightmares, his body needing to recover and get some real sleep.

**VVVVVVVV**

Roxas' head shot around when he heard a groan. He sat up a little straighter in the chair he was in, looking over at his brother's sleeping figure with interest. Surely he wasn't imagining the sound? When Sora had stopped tossing and turning a few hours ago, all of them had been worried, fearing the worst. However, they all quickly came to the conclusion that Sora was simply just sleeping peacefully now.

Mickey had said that it was a good thing because it would let him regain his strength. Still, they were all anxious for him to wake up. Roxas couldn't imagine what it would have been like to be trapped in your worst nightmares for days on end.

Sora let out another groan and his eyes slowly blinked open, staring at the roof above him with confusion for a moment before glancing over at Roxas and staring at him.

"Welcome back to the land of the living bro," Roxas joked with a grin. "How you feeling?"

Sora tried to speak but he just ended up coughing and shooting Roxas a helpless look. His twin easily understood that he was thirsty and couldn't really talk, so he nodded and stood up to get some water.

"Kairi," Sora managed to choke out, much to his brother's amusement.

Roxas chuckled a bit and filled up a glass of water, passing it to him and saying, "Drink it so you can talk. I'll go find her."

Sora watched Roxas leave and quickly gulped down the entire glass of water quickly. He lay in silence for a moment until his stomach gurgled loudly, reminding him that he hadn't eaten is days, though he was sure that they got some sort of supplement into him somehow. He looked around and saw that he was surrounded by medical equipment and his arm was sore from where an IV had been before. He learned later that they took it out when he had started sleeping peacefully. Donald had insisted that Sora would be fine, and it turned out that the duck was right.

A second later, he heard running in the hall and his door flew open. In a blur of pink, black and crimson, he soon found himself wrapped in a tight hug as Kairi practically laid on top of him, burying her face into the fabric of his shirt.

"Kairi," he muttered, running a hand through her hair as he heard her sob. "I'm okay."

"I was so scared," she mumbled. "I thought you would never wake up again. I don't know—"

"I'm awake," he interrupted quickly, resting his hands on either side of her cheeks and gently guiding her up so that she was hovering over him, staring into his eyes. "I'm okay, are you?"

She nodded her head and said, "I'm okay. So is—well everything else." He understood what she meant, but he didn't push for details. Even just at the implication of the child growing inside of her caused him to remember what the nightmareish version of him had said before.

Still, as she moved to his side and stared at him with her teary, but happy eyes, he reached out shakily and put his hand over her flat stomach. She smiled and put her hand over his.

His stomach rumbled and he said, "God, I'm starved."

Kairi giggled a bit and said, "I know how it feels." She sat up and helped him sit up. He felt physically weak, and was slowly trying to move his legs.

Kairi moved the blankets off of him and carefully rubbed his leg. She helped him move them back and fourth a bit, causing him to wince slightly, but soon he was moving his legs easily enough. He tried to get up, but Kairi gently pushed on his chest and said, "Sit. When Roxas comes back we'll get him or Riku to get you something. He wanted to give us some time alone. You shouldn't stress yourself too much though. I don't want you to hurt yourself."

He could see the tears in her eyes and felt horrible. He looked down and said, "I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault. That thing, that Dreamweaver Endless, it got into Disney Castle undetected and it forced you into your worst nightmares. There's no way that wasn't traumatizing. I could feel how scared you were and—" She finally broke out, hugging him close to her. " I was so scared."

"I'm okay, I promise," Sora whispered to her, hugging her close. "I don't—I don't actually remember what I dreamt of. For the most part. I saw my mom though. She was the one who broke me out of my nightmares."

Kairi smiled warmly at him and said, "Really? What did she say?"

"That she wasn't disappointed in me, that she loved me, and that I shouldn't be scared."

Kairi hugged him close to her and said, "Oh Sora, you can be scared sometimes too. I'll be here for you in those times, just like you're here for me. We all will."

Sora smiled warmly before frowning and asking, "Where are we?"

"Oh, we're on the gummi ship," Kairi explained. "We're over Crystal Shards right now. Roxas went down, but he can't open the door. We need you to do it. You need to get some good first though."

Sora smiled back and said, "Don't worry Kairi, everything will be okay. I promise."

**VVVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

So, a few months later than expected, huh? Honestly, I haven't written anything this summer so far. All of these chapters were written ahead of time, but even then, I just haven't had time to really deal with this website all that much. Remember that chapter I was struggling with? Yeah, still haven't written it yet.

I guess this is just a little note saying that I haven't completely given up on this fic yet. Seriously though, there's only so much that KH can hold my attention without any new info or games.

Not sure when I'm going to update next, but this story will be finished. Over the next week I have to deal with packing and moving, then working out bus schedules and fixing my class times and things like that.

I know there's a lot about the baby in this chapter, but really, I skimmed over everything. It is fairly accurate to what happens during the first check up, but again, things can change from situation to situation. As for Minnie going with her, I figured Kairi would need some sort of adult figure to guide her from time to time, and Minnie is a lot calmer than Daisy. As well, Riku and Mickey are a team, as well as Sora, Donald and Goofy, so I figured given Kairi someone from Disney to guide her along was appropriate.

Besides, in KHII, we know Minnie has some badass powerful attacks. When you guide her through the throne room, it's so easy to kill everything with her 'Faith' attack. I think it's Faith…it's been a while.

And yes, Sora is going to be going through a lot of mental issues with everything happening. But there is going to be action and adventure eventually. Promise.

_**Krystal Lily Potter **_


	13. Home

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Twelve - Home_

_He stared up at the cloudy sky above him, not able to see anything else but that and the large cliff towering over them. The pain in his limbs slowly started to die down, but he knew that it wasn't because his body was starting to heal itself. He was far too numb from the ice to feel anything anymore._

_As if to contradict his thoughts, he did feel the warmth of his friend as she rushed to his side and held on to him, even through their thick armour. She leaned over him, asking if he was okay with worry evident on her face, but he couldn't move. All he could do was shift his eyes slightly to show that he was still alive._

_Suddenly, a ball of dark energy caught his eye, and hers as well. She turned and watched it fly up into the clouds, forcing them apart to reveal a heart-shaped moon, glowing brightly with a pale blue colour._

_He felt horror pass through him as he stared at the moon. He knew exactly what it was, and he really wished that he didn't._

**VVVVVV**

Sora opened his eyes slowly, frowning a bit. He had no idea who that blue-haired woman in his dream was, but for some reason, she looked very familiar. It was like he had met her before, but he couldn't quite place her. Kingdom Hearts, that's what he had seen, but why?

He pushed himself up on this bed, looking around the room in silence. After getting something to eat, he was ready to go down and open the gate to Twilight's Destiny, but Mickey suggested that he take a few hours to get a bit more rest. Riku pointed out that he had been asleep for nearly two weeks, but Mickey pointed out that he hadn't really slept. Sora was about to argue, but Kairi folded her arms in front of her and gave him a stern stare, and he quickly gave in.

With a loud yawn, Sora managed to get off of his bed, stumbling only slightly before straightening himself up. He only wore a pair of pajamas (Kairi admitted that she thought he'd be uncomfortable in his armour or anything else, so she put the pajamas on him), and he quickly decided that he'd rather have something more appropriate when going onto the world. That, and he desperately needed a shower.

He was glad that this gummi ship had showers a little bigger than the last one. They were really getting spoiled in luxurious ships, especially in comparison to the tiny one that he, Donald and Goofy had used to travel from world to world during their first adventure. Sora was nearly positive that Mickey had given him and Kairi the room with the bath in it because of her current condition. He thought about it for a moment and decided that maybe baths could be very soothing to pregnant women. He didn't know, but hey, if it worked, he was all for it.

Shaking those thoughts out of his head, he quickly stripped and got in the shower, enjoying the burning hot water against his skin. It woke him up, almost as much as stepping into ice cold water would. He quickly washed his hair, wanting to get out before—

"Sora?"

He jumped and very nearly slipped. He managed to catch himself, before peering around the shower curtain. "Hi Kairi?"

She saw his odd look, shrugged, and said, "What? Not like I haven't seen you naked before. I just wanted to make sure you're feeling okay. Mickey doesn't want you to go down if you feel tired or sore or anything. We don't actually know what's down there."

He chuckled and said, "I'm good. I promise. I just needed a little more sleep." He moved behind the curtain again and quickly rinsed himself off before shutting off the water. It was only then that he realized that he forgot to get a towel. Peering around the curtain again, he had the decency to look embarrassed as he asked, "I don't suppose my beautiful girlfriend could get me a towel?" He realized a split second later that she was actually his fiancé, but that sounded so old-fashioned and formal, so girlfriend would do for now.

Kairi seemed to ponder this for a moment before saying, "Or I could watch you parade around naked." She giggled at the expression on his face before quickly finding a large towel to give him. She was in a good mood now that he was awake, so she wasn't going to torture him much.

Sora quickly dried himself off before wrapping the towel around him and walking back into the other room, Kairi following him closely. He turned around, gave her a slight smirk and said, "I know I'm hot, but you think you could give me a bit of space?"

She pouted for a moment but her pout slowly turned into a real frown. She sat down on their bed silently, staring at her clasped hands in her feet. Sora stared at her for a moment with worry before quickly changing into his clothes, not caring if she saw or not. The bottom layer (aside from boxers) of a simple t-shirt and his long shorts, was easy enough, followed by summoning his armour onto him (which he was very thankful that he could do), and then throwing on his outer layers of clothing on over it. He would have to ask if there was a way he could just summon everything on to him. It would make life so much easier when his girlfriend was sitting on their bed with tears streaking down her face but he didn't want to comfort her naked because he knew what that usually led to and right now that would have been awkward as hell.

The second he sat down beside her, she moved so that she was sitting at his side, her face pressed into the fabric of his shirt. Her hand moved up, fiddling with the crown shaped clasp at the front of his clothes before she said, "I was so scared. I thought you wouldn't wake up. You—you just got so hurt last time. We both did. It was always us. I don't want it to be us this time. Then you just…fell in front of me and—"

"Did it say something to you?" Sora asked, letting his heart guide him to the right question. He saw the hesitant look in her eyes and asked, "What did it say?"

"It knew about the baby," she placed her hand on her stomach, indigo eyes looking up at him fearfully. "It knew. Its Master knew."

Sora looked up at the ceiling, a flash of an armoured figure (Him?) hurting her. He couldn't let that happen. He wouldn't. He looked over at her, squeezed her a little bit tighter and said, "Hey, look at me. I'm going to make sure nothing happens to you, okay?"

She shook her head and said, "That's not all."

"What's wrong?" his voice wavered a bit, and he couldn't help but feel like she was hiding stuff from him again. He quickly pushed that thought away though. He had been unconscious. It wasn't her fault that he didn't know everything going on with her.

"I had a doctor's appointment," she explained, quickly holding a hand up to stop him from interrupting. "I'm fine, and she said that it's developing normally. The thing is though…I shouldn't have been able to get pregnant when I did. Not really."

"What? You think it happened before that?"

"No. The doctor says that the date of conception was around when we thought it was, but that's the thing. My cycle doesn't add up. There's nothing wrong with me, so the easiest thing to come to is that—that—"

"Something made it so you would get pregnant," he whispered, his eyes going wide. Something had manipulated it so they would conceive a child, but why?

He suddenly felt a fierce wave of protectiveness pass through him. He hugged her and said, "It happened, we can't change that. I'll protect you with everything I have. I promise. Something may want it after it's born, but whatever this thing that's trying to control our lives is, we'll fight back. We might have been manipulated up until now, but now that we know, we'll do everything our way."

Kairi stared at him, her tears finally stopping, a genuine smile appearing on her face as she said, "You're right. Just because something made this happen doesn't mean that we just have to give up and bend over, letting whatever they want to happen, happen."

Sora smiled warmly and said, "That's my girl."

**VVVVVV**

Crystal Shards looked different from the last time that they were there. Kairi shivered a bit, remembering the last time that she had stood in the exact same spot she was now. She could still see Sora, lying on the ground, not knowing if he was okay. She had known that he was alive, and that he was hurt, but still, seeing him lift his head to acknowledge her and the relief that swept through her body was something she would never forget.

Crystal Shards, compared to last time, looked much bright. The air that had been chilly was now warm like the island air, the sky a vibrant bright blue instead of a dead, cloudy grey, and the stones that littered the grounds were all shining brightly.

Naminé suddenly nudged Kairi gently, giving her a worried look. The redhead just smiled back at her weakly. Naminé understood what Kairi was going through. She had been the one to kneel beside Sora as _they_ forced him to open the gate the first time while he was just barely in a comatose state.

They walked in silence, heading towards the looming gate. It looked exactly like they remembered it, though there was less of a sense of foreboding this time as they approached it.

"There's nothing here," Riku said as he suddenly appeared beside them. Midori appeared a moment later from the other direction. They had gone to do some recon before they all just charged at the gate.

"So, none of those strange…Endless?" Donald asked. "Whatever they are."

"I've seen Endless before," Mickey piped up. They all looked at him, their faces clearly showing wonder about why he didn't mention it before. Ignoring that, he continued, "Well, they weren't quite as…advanced as you described the one from earlier. They're not natural. They're created. I don't know how, but I do know that they used to be people. They're not Heartless, they're not Nobodies, they're manufactured. I don't know what types there are though. Maybe I should get Jiminy to come with us. He could document what we know about them. Of course, then there was the Unversed."

"The what?"

"I'll explain later," Mickey said. "We should get going. I don't like just standing here."

"So, those things, Endless, were here before?" Sora asked as they walked through the barren landscape. "Then they vanished?"

Roxas, catching on to where his brother was going continued, "And they're created, so that means whoever created them at first stopped, and now they're starting again. Any ideas, Mickey?"

He hesitated. "We'll talk about it more in a safer place."

They approached the massive gate, staring up at it in awe. There was silence amongst the group before Goofy asked, "What now?"

Sora looked around at Roxas, who shrugged in reply.

"Last time you just touched it," Kairi said, her voice soft and shaky. She had seen Sora helpless here, tortured and forced into an alcohol and drug induced state. She had seen two cages full of young children seem to slump down, appearing dead. She bit her lip, blinking away the tears that suddenly welded up in her eyes. She hated her hormones, she really did.

Naminé smiled sadly while watching her cousin. She reached out and took Kairi's hand, causing the redhead to look over and smile back at her weakly. She felt Kairi tense up as Sora walked over to the gate, one of his hands gripping the metal bar.

For a moment, nothing happened, but then the metal started to glow, originating from where Sora's hand rested. The steel seemed to dissolve, leaving an empty, glowing archway.

"Is that it?" Donald asked skeptically.

"Looks like it," Sora answered, he was about to take a step forward, but was stopped as Roxas suddenly gripped his shoulder.

Glancing around at his twin curiously, Sora couldn't help but feel a small wave of annoyance pass through him as Roxas said, "Let me go first. You just woke up from a coma. If there's something waiting just on the other side of this, it's not going to get you again."

Sora confusion shifted to an odd look, and he said, "And you nearly had your spine crushed. You're not up to par yet either."

Roxas blinked at him, unable to argue with that very true statement.

Midori sighed and said, "I'll go." Before anyone could protest, she walked through the barrier. She was gone for all of five seconds before her voice came from beyond the invisible barrier. "You have got to come and see this. It seems safe."

They all moved through quickly, not sure what they were expecting to see. It was hard to tell with Midori. What they did see stunned them all.

The world was absolutely beautiful.

The palace was completely reformed, built with white stone and rising up to the sky. The thick walls around the grounds (which were also the edge of the world at the moment) were made with a mixture of stone, steel, and iron. The pathway to the castle was carved in smooth, dark rock, and the plants littering the area were the same as the tropical ones found on Destiny Islands.

It was breathtaking.

"Is this what Twilight's Destiny always looked like?" Kairi asked in awe.

"From what I gather," Mickey said with a nod. "I've never actually seen it myself, but I from what I heard it was always pretty magnificent."

"Maleficent? Where?" Riku asked, distracted by the sight of the castle.

"Magnificent," Midori repeated dryly, nudging his arm.

He ignored her, but she knew that he had heard her from the slightly embarrassed look on his face.

"So are we gonna go inside, or just stand here?" Roxas asked after a few moments. "I mean, if it looks like this out here, imagine what it looks like in there."

"How do we open those doors though?" Naminé wondered aloud. It was true, the front doors were absolutely huge. Really, it wasn't practical, but she assumed that it was just for show.

Sora walked ahead of everyone else, looking up at the structure curiously. He looked at the door, trying to see any obvious way to get in. When he didn't, he set his hand on the door, slightly surprised to see that it was made out of metal when it didn't look like it from farther away. Just like with the gate, the second he touched the door, it started to glow before slowly opening. He looked back at everyone else and grinned. "Guess I'm the key."

"I can believe that," Riku said with a shrug as the rest approached the doors. "You're a key and Kairi' got you on her keychain."

Donald and Roxas both snorted and Kairi punched him in the arm, though there was a smirk on her face. When she looked away, he rubbed his arm and mouthed an 'ow', much to Sora's amusement.

They all walked inside and the only thing that they could all do was stop and stare. Disney Castle was a sight to behold, but this room, it looked like something out of a fantasy book.

They all stared in awe until Sora broke out of the trance as he heard Kairi sniffle behind him. He looked around at her, frowning as he rested a hand on her shoulder and asked, "Why are you crying?"

She rubbed her eyes and sniffed again before saying, "I don't know. This is just so beautiful. It looks exactly like what I've always pictured the perfect castle to look like. You know, when we played knights and princess and everything?"

"I was hoping that this place would live up to your expectations," Sora said with a laugh, shifting so that his arm rested around her shoulder.

"Oh, well that explains it," Mickey said suddenly. They all looked at him curiously. "See, from what little I know about this place, this castle is special. Because the whole world is tied to Sora, this castle in particular is tied to him. If I'm right, you can make any room in any part of the castle look however you want. Even add more rooms where it looks like there can't be any. This entire castle is pretty much exactly how you want it to be on the inside, though from what I saw, the outside doesn't change much. You wanted Kairi to have her perfectly palace, so maybe the magic went through you, into her and made it how she pictured."

"That's intense," Riku said. "I can believe it though, there's no way Sora could have pictured this on his own." The brunet shot him a glare. "What? Remember all those sand castles we made? Yours rarely ever stayed up and looked more like sand lumps than anything."

Kairi beamed at Sora as he glared at Riku. She grabbed a hold of his arm and said, "Ignore him. I think it's sweet."

"Whipped," Roxas coughed.

Kairi glared at him and said, "Yeah well…you're acrocephalic."

"What?" he looked around at everyone else. They all ignored him for a few minutes as they kept walking. "No really, what did she just call me?"

"You have a pointy head," she snapped.

"No I don't," Roxas said, though he self-consciously put his hand on top of his head when Kairi looked away. Naminé just rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Before Kairi could get in a really bad mood, Sora said, "Hey Iri? Maybe we should go check out the rooms and everything? See what else is here?" She looked up at him, smiling brilliantly, and nodded her head eagerly.

He could feel Roxas' relief.

They walked up the flight of stairs that was at the left side of the hall. As they walked down the halls, Sora knew for a fact that he had influenced the castle. There were mementos and tributes to all of his friends that he had made. From small statues and busts, to paintings and large tapestries, anyone that Sora had ever met and befriended was represented in some way.

"These stairs move," Midori said suddenly, backtracking to look into a stairwell that they had passed. "Like an escalator. Beats running up and down a billion flights of stairs."

"For some people more than others," Kairi pointed out, referring to herself. Though only a few caught on to this. She was already tired from walking up all the steps that they came come up. She would hate to do it when she had a massive stomach.

Now that she thought about being tired, she was suddenly hungry. She sighed with annoyance. Though her 'morning' sickness was fading away a little more each day, her hunger did not follow the same pattern as she slowly passed the two-month mark. She knew that she didn't really need to eat that much extra to sustain both herself and the baby healthily, but she was just always so hungry. Already she was mentally preparing herself for the months of physical exercise where she would have to work off the extra body fat from all of her extra calorie intake. She blamed Sora. His child would cause her to want to eat the world.

Suddenly, her mind zoomed back to something she had thought about a moment ago. She wasn't quite there, but soon it would be three months since the baby growing inside of her had been put there. That meant six more until it was here. She suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

"Kairi? What's wrong?"

Hearing the worry in Sora's voice, she looked up at him with confusion. He seemed to realize that she had no idea what he was referring to, and quickly wiped his finger on her cheek, showing her the wetness that came off of it. She was crying again. Really, she truly hated her hormones. All she seemed to do lately was cry, and it honestly made her angry.

That revelation choked her up more and she hugged Sora tightly. He hugged her back but again sent everyone else bewildered looks.

"So, where are the bedrooms?" Goofy asked curiously, trying to distract them all from the awkward silence that befell them.

"Well," Roxas said while reclining a bit, crossing his arms behind his head. "If I could get into Sora's head—which I can—I'd be willing to bet that they're on the next floor up."

"Why?" Riku asked, casting Roxas an odd look.

"Third floor," Roxas and Sora answered together.

"What's so special about the third floor?" Donald questioned as they moved on to the escalator that Midori had pointed out earlier.

"Obviously because you're high enough up so that it's hard for something to get in and attack you from outside, but you're still low enough so that, if you needed to jump, you'd have a better chance at surviving," Roxas said a little too quickly.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, and when you're around, that's saying something," Riku said while shaking his head in disbelief. "Aside from a person with magic, or maybe us, anyone who takes a three storey dive is going to hurt themselves bad enough so that they might as well have stayed inside.

"You're the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Roxas shot back.

Sora ignored both of them and simply said, "I like the number three."

"But that doesn't even…you know what, you two are strange sometimes," Naminé said, regarding her boyfriend and his brother with a mystified look.

Roxas just shrugged, turning his back on Riku and completely ignoring him, and said, "Lets get waterworks over there upstairs or something. You know, isolation before she floods us all?" It might have seemed rude, but he was purposely poking fun at Kairi, hoping to get a rise out of her to stop her tears like earlier.

It was successful. She glared at him hotly, and Sora had to lead her up to the moving stairs, away from his brother. Still, she looked back and said, "You just wait! When you least expect it, you'll get it! I know where you live!"

"Here for now?" Riku said, amusement rising on his features as she cast him a glare.

She seemed to contemplate Riku's words before turning to Sora and asking, "Can you make his room as uncomfortable as possible?"

Sora just laughed.

**VVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

If you guys want, because this chapter was short/boring, and because I haven't really updated in forever, I can do basically a double update (as in updating about 24 hours after I upload this one). The next chapter's already complete as well, but it's up to you guys.

Yes, I'm basically saying review or I won't update soon. I know, I'm a horrible person. Honestly, I'm just curious about how many people are interested enough in this.

Honestly, this offer is mostly because I have finally defeated the chapter that's been plaguing me all summer and I'm pumped about that. Anyone who has read my author's notes before knows that I like to be ahead in writing my chapters so that I don't fall into a rut of not updating for months on end (look how well that turned out), so now that the chapter is done, things should start to get back on track.

I can't remember how far along I said Kairi was in the last chapter, but I'm pretty sure it was wrong. I think I wrote down 9 weeks, but then I looked back over everything, and even though I'm the master of huge time skips without even having a reference to it, it still wouldn't make sense.

This, however, does:  
>Kairi found out when she was two weeks.<p>

She told Sora when she was six weeks (a month and a half).

They were at Disney for a little while before they were attacked.  
>Sora was unconscious for about a week and a half, so that brings her pretty much to two months.<p>

Make sense?

Thank you to everyone who did review my last chapter! This includes Twilight Cardmistress, EvilxLittlexNinja, Shifuni, Q-A the Authoress, shelbysnake7, Trainalf, 16afoster, and The 666th necrophiliac.

Thank you for all holding on while I basically vanished all summer! Funny how I seem to have more free time when I'm in school. I wonder about my priorities…

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	14. Arrival

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Thirteen – Arrival_

It went without saying that waiting for the enemy to strike again really sucked. They were all positive that they were safe within the castle walls of Twilight's Destiny; Sora had made sure of it. They had no idea where to go from there though. Most of them knew nothing about the enemy aside from the fact that his minions were Endless, creatures that hadn't been seen in over ten years. Most of them didn't have even the slightest inclination who what controlling them, what he was planning, or what he even wanted.

The only one person who had any idea about what was going on was King Mickey Mouse, and to be frank, it worried him. He wasn't oblivious; he could easily make the connection between the disappearance of Xehanort and the Endless. He vanished, and at the same time, the earlier, more primitive forms of Endless vanished as well. Now, after Sora had defeated both the Heartless and the Nobody of Xehanort, they were back. Now that he thought back more, he realized that there might have been a time Xehanort admitted to creating, or at least controlling the Endless. He wasn't quite sure. Memories were fickle things, and it was hard to tell what events he was making up and which ones really were true.

Who Master Xehanort was had always been a point of curiosity and confusion for Mickey. He remembered the old man from years ago with those cruel eyes and the smug smirk on his face. Yet, only months later, he met a young man named Xehanort. While suspicious, he simply decided it had to be an eerie coincidence. How he wished he could take that thought back.

Mickey knew now that there was no coincidence in fate.

He had his own theories about the situation though. He clearly remembered what happened to Ventus when that darkened boy, Vanitas, took over his body. Aqua, she vanished and not even Yen Sid knew where to look for her. Yen Sid agreed though, that there was still life in her star, still life in her. She was alive somewhere, but where, the mouse never figured that out. Terra was the third of their group, and Mickey had a feeling that he had seen Terra many times before, if only in body.

Mickey knew that, if it was Master Xehanort they were dealing with (which he strongly believed was the case), then they had no way of knowing what he was planning. Xehanort had always been ten steps ahead of everyone else in the past. Even when it seemed like his plans were ruined, he had still come out on top in a way. The fact that all of the Keyblade Wielders except for Mickey himself had vanished was proof enough of that. It was also proof that Xehanort's plan hadn't gone the way he wanted it to though. He had wanted darkness, and he had wanted chaos. Perhaps he was planning on doing that again.

So for now, they had to wait. Wait and watch the rest of the worlds that were out there like sitting ducks for the enemy to strike. Wait until it was already too late.

And who knew, maybe it already was too late.

**VVVVV**

Kairi coughed loudly, her body heaving, even though there was nothing left to throw up. Sweat lined her forehead, but she ignored it as she reached up and grabbed toilet paper, wiping her mouth and flushing the toilet. She let out a groan and slumped down against the floor, finding that she liked the slight chill of the marble floor against her sweaty face. She curled up with her legs close to her chest, feeling another wave of nausea pass through her, even though she knew that she wasn't going to be sick again.

She breathed in and out for a few moments, calming herself down. She reassured herself that it certainly could have been worse. She could still be going through this every single day. Now it was just every second or third day, and hopefully soon to be non-existent. She would take herself getting fat if it meant that she wasn't throwing up all of the time.

Kairi rolled over so that she was lying on her back and stared at the ceiling. She could have got up if she wanted to, but she didn't want to. She was actually enjoying being on the cold floor. It was like looking at the world through a different perspective, and she was aware that her baby would see the world like this without the comprehension. It wouldn't know that the navy floor was made of some sort of marble (or something similar), it wouldn't appreciate the pale blue walls, or the perfect porcelain bathtub. Of course, it also wouldn't be lying on the cold floor for no apparent reason.

Kairi vaguely wondered where Sora was. He and Mickey were working on something to do with her situation in Radiant Garden, or something like that. She was honestly impressed with how strong Naminé was being over the subject. She insisted, with a stubbornness that Kairi didn't even realize the blonde possessed, that becoming the Queen was what she wanted to do. Still, sometimes Kairi wondered if Naminé was just saying that, or if she was only doing it because Kairi refused to. She hoped that wasn't the case.

She felt an inexplicably strong wave of anger pass over her. Radiant Garden was ruining everything for all of them. Her, Sora, Naminé, Roxas, hell, they were even making problems for Mickey. Her anger turned into a vicious rage, but she still didn't move. She felt tears building up in her eyes as angry thoughts bounced around in her head wildly. They were just sitting around waiting for an enemy to strike while dealing with political crap that only Mickey understood and was used to.

She heard the door open, but she still didn't move.

"Kairi?" she heard Sora call out to her after a moment, as if looking around the room and being surprised to not see her anywhere. Why she didn't answer him, she couldn't really say. She just felt so angry that it didn't even occur to her that not answering would send him into a frenzy of worry.

He came into the bathroom swiftly, and ended up having to jump over her so that he didn't stumble onto her entirely. He quickly dropped to his knees at her side.

"Kairi? Are you okay?" Sora asked her, placing her hands on his shoulders. He looked and could see that she was conscious, but she still didn't say a word. He quickly put his arms under her back and knees and picked her up, swiftly bringing her to the bed.

She just let him carry her, well aware that his ability to do so wasn't guaranteed in the future. Kairi shifted her eyes towards Sora and glared at him. "Where were you?"

"What?" he seemed startled about this question. "I told you. I was helping Mickey—"

"Well you should have been here!" she growled suddenly, sitting up quickly. "I've been in the bathroom puking all morning! And Radiant Garden! And—" She suddenly burst into tears.

Sora was completely stunned. He stared at her for nearly a full minute before wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tightly.

"What's wrong?"

She shook her head and said, "I'm so sorry Sora. I'm just—really hormonal. I've been happy and sad and angry all day. Then I started thinking about Radiant Garden and how they're fucking up everything." She let out an angry growl and punched the bed, her tears forgotten already.

"Umm…to be honest Kairi, I don't really know what to do with you when you're like this," he said sheepishly.

She looked up at him, chuckled and said, "I'm an emotional wreck. Not calm like normal."

"Calm? You're an emotional wreck anyway. This is just time, like, _infinity_."

Kairi poked his side, causing him to jerk slightly, and said, "Ass."

"So, Mickey set up a meeting with Radiant Garden for later today. Since you've been lying on the bathroom floor all morning, I assume you'd like to clean yourself up."

"You'll be there, right?"

Sora pretended to think about that for a moment, but when she raised her hand to poke him in the side again (a spot she knew was horribly ticklish), he quickly said, "Of course. I am your reason for turning it down."

"Have you seen Naminé today?" Kairi asked him. She got up and starting going through her dresser to find clothes.

Sora frowned and said, "Is that why you were upset?" He made himself comfortable on the bed since he knew that it would take her a while to find what she wanted to wear.

"Huh?"

"You feel like you're forcing Naminé into a position where she doesn't have a choice about her own future."

"Maybe," she admitted hesitantly.

Sora flopped back so that he was lying on the bed and said, "Naminé wants to do this Kairi. To be honest, I think she's kind of glad that it's her, and not you."

"What?"

"Well," he said hesitantly, avoiding her gaze by looking at the ceiling. "She's always, kinda, really, been in your shadow. People notice you, then her. If you go to a place together, you're the one who stands out and she blends in with the background. Even physically, your red hair, your bright and sometimes wild clothing choices, and then your personality is much more open, outgoing and initially friendly than hers. Naminé, she doesn't like clothes and colours that stand out a lot, and she's much more of an introvert than you. She'd be perfectly happy staying home and drawing all day. It's almost like this is her time to shine. You know?"

Kairi thought about this for a moment before asking, "Was she? I didn't—I mean—I didn't mean for that to happen if it did."

Sora shrugged a bit and said, "It happened. It wasn't your fault. You're both your own people now. You're just not as much alike as we all originally thought you'd be. Roxas and I are more alike, but you can still see how we're fairly different from one another too. Don't worry about it. Just…be supportive of her too, okay?"

"I'm just worried."

"Everything will be okay. It always turns out fine."

"But that's just it, everything does turn out fine," Kairi said, glaring at the dresser as if it was it's fault that she couldn't find the clothes she wanted. "Sora, what if it doesn't this time?"

Sora slowly got up the bed and crossed the room so that he was standing behind her. She glanced up at him in the mirror that was above her dresser. Her expression was serious, but he was just glad that she wasn't crying. He knew that she wanted an answer to her question, though she also knew that he couldn't give one

He reached around her, shakily placing his hand on her stomach. He breathed in deeply, resting his head on her shoulder so that his cheek was pressed against her own. "I'll try to make it okay. I promise you."

Kairi smiled for a moment before going back to observing the two different shirts she had in her hands. In an almost nonchalant way, she said, "I'm not stupid, you know. I know you don't really want this baby."

He was so surprised at her abrupt change of topic that he jerked away a bit, letting go of Kairi. Kairi didn't look up at him, inspecting a third shirt.

"Don't say it like that," he said after a moment, his mind still reeling from what she had said so bluntly. "It's not that I want to not want it, if that makes any sense at all. It's just so…different…and new." He glanced up and realized that she was staring at him in the mirror again. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here for you. I just…don't say it that way."

She set down the shirts and turned to face him. She smiled a bit and took his hand. "That wasn't fair of me to say at all. I'm sorry. It's okay to be afraid or…apprehensive. I am too."

There was a pause before he nodded his head slowly. He brought her close, resting his chin on the top of her head and said, "I'll always be here for both of you. You and the baby. I promise that too."

They stayed like that for a moment, standing in the middle of their room, holding each other close. Then, Sora felt a warm liquid on his neck. Her backed away from her a bit in an attempt to see her face, but she quickly looked away.

This time, he reached out and cupped her cheek, gently guiding her to look at him, and he felt horrible when he saw the tears streaking down her cheeks. She let out a small sob before suddenly throwing herself at him, hugging him tightly, and causing him to stumble backwards. He ended up tripping onto the bed, his back making contact with the mattress as she fell onto him, but she still didn't let go.

"Hey," Sora said, hugging her close again, letting her hide her face within the folds of his shirt. "It's okay, don't cry."

"I'm scared," she whimpered. "I'm so scared Sora. It's—it's not the f—fear like when _he_—well you know—hurt me—but…I'm just so scared."

Sora felt a wave of guilt pass through him. He was being so selfish, thinking only of himself. All he had done was think about how his mother would be disappointed, and how he wasn't ready to be a father. Never once did it really, truly occurred to him that she might be just as terrified, and just as not ready as he was. She put on a brave face, but he should have known better. He knew her inside and out, and he never even thought of that.

"I have nightmares," he said suddenly. "I see you, and someone is hurting you. Then—then it turns out that it's me. I don't want to hurt you. Either of you."

Kairi looked up at him and said, "They're just nightmares. You would never hurt me. Not intentionally."

"What if something happens and I didn't mean it and you get hurt? I don't—I couldn't…"

"No," Kairi said, squeezing his arm tightly. "Don't even think about it Sora. Don't. Nothing's going to—er—well—we'll try to make sure that nothing happens. Just don't think about it for now."

He didn't want to upset her even more, so he nodded his head and just held her, gently wiping the tears off of her cheeks. After a few minutes of just holding her, her tears finally stopped and she shifted so that she was beside him and just leaning on him instead of right on top of him.

"It's really warm in here," she suddenly blurted out, and Sora had to look down at her oddly. He didn't find it particularly warm in the room that they were in. He found it just a normal, average temperature, which was a little colder than what they were used to on Destiny Islands anyway.

"Do you want me to let go?" he asked her once he came to the conclusion that she wasn't going to say anything else.

"Don't be stupid," was her quick answer, as she moved a bit so that she could look at him. "That's why I was on the floor earlier. It was cool."

"Yeah, but you could get sick."

Kairi grinned a bit at the obvious worry in his voice and said, "You're cute. No I wouldn't." There was another pause before her stomach suddenly rumbled loudly.

Sora snorted with laughter and she blushed a bit, fiddling with her hair. He let her go and said, "Come on, you need to get ready to talk to Radiant Garden. You know, showers and clothes, and I guess we can get you something to eat too."

Kairi was silent for a moment before saying, "I'd kill for a chicken burger."

He laughed loudly and said, "You get ready. I'll go see if I can find you a chicken burger."

"Sora, this place does whatever you want it to," she pointed out.

"To a point. I couldn't end world hunger with this place or anything. It only makes so much. Actually, I was reading something, I think one of my relatives wrote it, kinda like a how-to guide for dummies for the castle," Sora shrugged. "I think it's really only producing all this stuff because there's nothing else here yet. Once the world is back together, we'll probably have to buy things from the people, which makes sense in a way. Contribute to the population's money. For now though, we get free food, but not too much."

"Yet Roxas still managed to find ten boxes of sea-salt ice cream," Kairi pointed out and Sora shrugged again. Kairi gave him a kiss on the cheek and said, "Steal some back please? I really feel like sea-salt ice cream. Hey, I wonder what that'd taste like on a chicken burger?"

Sora made a face and said, "I'll get right on that."

Kairi was going through her dresser again and asked, "So, what should I wear? I'm thinking my cute clothes while they still fit, but I'm kind of thinking of dressing like a slut just to make a statement."

Sora laughed and said, "I'm sure Radiant Garden would love that. I say you look good in anything, but maybe you should avoid the more revealing stuff? I'm sure it'd make a statement, but I don't want a bunch of old geezers eyeing you. I'm the only one allowed to see you in those clothes."

"You're biased," Kairi said with a teasing giggle. "But I suppose you're right."

"Well, I'll go try to wrestle some sea-salt ice cream from Roxas. Think I should write a will to give everything to you and the baby before I go?"

"Probably," Kairi said with a nod. Roxas got vicious when it came to any sort of ice cream. When it came to sea-salt ice cream specifically, he became a monster.

**VVVVV**

Mickey looked around and stared at Sora as he walked in the room, rubbing a black eye that he was positive wasn't there in the morning, carrying a tub of Scrooge's Seat-Salt Ice Cream under his free arm.

"Gosh Sora, what happened?" Mickey asked him with worry.

"Roxas," he answered flatly. "He takes his ice cream very seriously."

"He punch you in the face because you tried to take one of the ten tubs of ice cream he took?"

"No," Sora said. "He actually attacked me like an insane, rabid dog or something." Sora set the ice cream on the table so that he could wave his arms around dramatically as he spoke. "I love this castle! He was chasing me, and a wall came up between us! It's awesome!"

Mickey chuckled. "How's Kairi? Is she going to be ready on time?"

"She's the reason I even dared enter Roxas' lair," the brunet said, motioning to the ice cream. "She wants a chicken burger…with sea-salt ice cream on it." Kairi explained that Minnie and Mickey knew about the baby, and Sora was glad to have someone who was a little older to discuss things with.

Mickey tried not to make a face at that, but he couldn't hold it in. He was a mouse, he would eat a lot of things, but that wasn't one of them.

"Yeah, that's what I thought too," Sora agreed. "She hasn't had a good morning though, so I'm just going to give her what she wants."

The mouse nodded before hesitantly saying, "After we deal with Radiant Garden today, there something we need to talk about. It's really important, and it's what I've been waiting to tell you for a very long time."

Sora blinked with this. "Wow, leave me in suspense here why don't ya?"

Mickey laughed and said, "You should get Kairi's food." He quickly left the room, getting ready to prepare for the conference with the officials from Radiant Garden.

Sora sighed and shook his head. He had a headache, and the day was still young. He was sure that he was going to have to take up drinking coffee or energy drinks soon. That was a thought all of his friends would laugh at as they locked any sort of caffeine out of his reach. No one wanted to deal with a Sora Hikari who was hyped up on a caffeine overload.

Kairi came down into the kitchen quicker than Sora expected. She was showered, dressed, and her hair and makeup was done up a little more than normal. At the sight of chicken burgers and ice cream, a huge smile appeared on her face and, to Sora, she looked much more awake and radiant than she had in the last few days.

Sora had to watch with disgusted interest as she took the first bite of the odd combination, and was slightly surprised that she ate the rest of it. He settled on taking a spoon and eating some of the ice cream directly from the tub. He smirked a bit as she let out a happy moan and said, "I was so hungry."

"Think you're going to feel sick?" he asked her with worry. He didn't like the idea of her feeling ill in any way, especially since he knew that it was partially his fault.

"Don't think so. It's getting better lately," she answered and scooted closer to him as she finished up the rest of her late lunch. There was a moment of quiet, and Sora didn't think anything of it, scooping up another spoon full of the blue ice cream. She struck quickly, swiping the spoon out of his hand and happily putting it in her mouth.

Sora blinked, staring at her with something akin to surprise. He narrowed his eyes a bit playfully and said, "What did I tell you about stealing my food?"

"I'm going to get fat anyway," she said, shrugging it off. "Remember what I said about taking your food?"

"Wish I couldn't." He was quick to grab the spoon again, ignoring her whine of protest as he ate some more of the ice cream. Riku still laughed over that incident where Kairi had stolen the pickles from Sora's burger.

"Give it back," she said, poking him in the side. He squirmed a bit and moved away from her, but she persisted. She was practically leaning on him, trying to get the spoon that he held above their heads. Sora let out a surprised yelp as gravity finally decided to kick in (he had decided long ago that gravity just didn't care about them anymore and chose to ignore them most of the time), and both he and Kairi fell back onto the floor. Somehow, his foot ended up hitting the table, sending the tub of melting ice cream sailing, ending up all over the floor and them.

Kairi wiped some of the sticky, blue substance from her hair and stared at Sora, who looked equally stunned. They stared at each other in silence for a moment, before Kairi let out a small giggle. That set them both off, laughing hysterically.

They weren't sure how long they were laying there, laughing over nothing. When Riku found them though, he had cast them an odd look and asked, "Do I want to know?"

"No," Kairi said happily as she finally stood up. Sora took a little longer to get over his laughter before getting up.

"Nice statement for Radiant Garden."

"I know, it's ice cream-chic," the redhead said while spinning around, her white shirt ruined. Sora chuckled again, not caring that his hair was now sticking together. It wasn't the first time that he had got ice cream in his face in the past few weeks.

"You two are your own brand of insane," he said with a sigh as he walked pass them and towards the fridge.

"Don't be jealous just because you don't have a girlfriend to share your own insanity with," Sora said with a grin.

Kairi looked at him with interest and asked, "What about Aria?"

"She and I didn't work out," Riku shrugged. Kairi rolled her eyes at him and he glared at her. "Don't roll your eyes at me. Just because I haven't decided to tie myself down to someone for the rest of my life at the age of 19, doesn't mean there's anything wrong with me."

Kairi flinched a bit at his harsh tone. With her non-verbal movement, she had clearly hit a sore spot for him. She felt tears suddenly welding up in her eyes and desperately tried to stop herself from crying.

Sora didn't even notice her tears yet. His defenses quickly kicked in, and he snarled, "Back off."

Riku was taken back by how angry Sora sounded. He held his hands up and said, "Sorry, I'm a bit stressed over this whole waiting for the enemy to attack thing too. I didn't mean it Kairi."

She looked up at Riku, wiping her tears away before Sora noticed and nodded her head. "It's okay." To prove that she meant it, she shot him a huge smile.

"So I guess you're not ready for the conference then," Riku asked as he pulled out a couple pizza pockets and threw them in the microwave.

Sora and Kairi looked at each other before laughing a bit.

"I guess not," Sora said while shaking his head. "Come on Iri, better go get changed again."

"I think the ice cream really does make a statement."

He rolled his eyes and said, "You're hilarious. Come on."

"See how controlling he is?" Kairi asked Riku, but let Sora lead her out of the room. Their older friend just chuckled at their antics.

"Just think," Sora said as they walked through the empty hall. "After this, we won't have to worry about Radiant Garden anymore. That's one thing that'll be behind us."

"I guess," she agreed. "It's just one thing though."

"It's better than nothing. Imagine if they would have just taken you? They would have forced you to marry someone else and they would have…" He trailed off before nodding at her stomach. She understood what he was trying to say and shivered at the thought. To lighten the mood, he added, "Then I would have had to go homicidal and kill them all without remorse."

"How sweet of you," she quipped sarcastically.

Before he could reply, there was a flash of incredibly bright light coming from outside. A split second later, an odd sound echoed around them, and then a loud bang followed. After that, everything went silent.

Riku rushed into the hall and saw Sora holding Kairi tightly. His green eyes moved from one to the other and asked, "Are you guys okay?"

"What do you think that was?" she asked softly.

"Whatever it was, it's outside," Sora answered, his eyes not wavering from the window. He glanced over at Riku quickly. "We should check it out." He looked down at Kairi and said, "Go find everyone else, okay?"

"But—"

"Go get everyone else, Kairi," he stressed, putting his hands on her shoulders. "We need to see what it was. We don't want whatever that was to go unchecked for too long."

Kairi bit her lip before nodding her head. Sora watched her go before he and Riku quickly took off down the hall. Sora felt his blood pumping through him. Maybe they would finally have a clue about what the hell was going on.

They cautiously went outside, silently making their way around to where the light had come from.

What they saw there shocked both of them to the core.

Lying on the ground were two unconscious men. One had silver hair that flipped over his eyes, and the other was a tall, lanky redhead with incredibly spiky hair. Both Sora and Riku were shocked over this.

"Axel?" Sora said with confusion. He was about to go closer, but Riku grabbed his shoulder and stopped him from moving.

"That thing, an Endless, turned into Kairi. It may be something like that again," Riku said, his eyes grazing over the four unconscious people suspiciously. "How did two members of an Organization that were took out get here, in one of the most protected places around?"

"I don't know," Sora admitted looking back at them. "I recognize Axel, but are you sure that other guy was in the Organization?"

"Positive," Riku said, glowing at the unconscious man. "Zexion. Master of illusions. He's incredibly smart, and incredibly dangerous. I dealt with him first hand."

"Sora," they heard Mickey's voice suddenly call out. "Riku, what's going on?"

"Look," Riku said, nodding towards the two on the ground.

Mickey cautiously walked over, and Sora heard Roxas let out a gasp and rush up. A second later, Sora saw Midori hovering beside Riku out of the corner of his eye, and Naminé was beside her. Donald and Goofy approached curiously to see what was going on.

Roxas carefully approached them, ignoring the warnings coming everyone else. He knelt down next to Axel, shaking a bit, before reaching out and shaking his shoulder. "Axel?"

A second later, Axel let out a groan, startling Donald, who jumped back and landed on Goofy's foot. They all watched as his eyes opened, revealing his bright green orbs, and he looked around with confusion until his vision landed on the blond kneeling beside him.

"Roxas?" he asked, confusion splayed on his features. He looked around at everyone else, his eyes resting on Naminé and Midori before shooting to Sora with confusion. "How are you both here?"

"Sora what's—" Kairi stopped talking, her eyes landing on the other redhead. She heard Sora say her name, but she wasn't paying attention. All she could see was Axel coming towards her, grabbing her arm, and pulling her towards a swirling, dark portal, his gloved hand gripping her arm tightly enough to bruise her.

She suddenly felt like the temperature had spiked up dramatically, and she took a step backwards away from him, feeling panic and horror pass through her.

Then, everything went black.

**VVVVV**

**Author's Note**

I promised a double update, and you get a double update. I went even faster than I said I would! Mostly because I had two choices on what to do this morning: tidy my apartment or be a lazy slacker. Needless to say, the lazy slacker won out.

Yes I know, originally I had Larxene and Demyx here as well. I changed my mind. It's no secret that I'm pretty much the only person out there who isn't fond of the Organization Members, but that's not why I took them out. I needed a few Organization people in this, but I didn't need four. That was just overkill Axel's a given, but I tossed around the idea of the other three. I thought it'd be interesting to put Zexion in, because his Other doesn't actually talk. It's enough to leave Sora on edge.

Thank you to all my awesome reviewers! You guys are great! As for update speeds…I can't promise weekly updates on a specific day (mostly because I can't guarantee that the chapters will be ready—school work does come first), but they'll be more regular for now on.

No more double updates though. Well, maybe for Christmas or something, but not in general.

Anyway, **thank you to**: Trainalf, Q-A the Authoress, Ash09, Twilight Cardmistress, The 666th necrophiliac, Jad826, and Shifuni!

Side note not related to anything: I took a class on Film Genre, thinking it was going to be pretty boring. Imagine my shock when I find out that it's a class focused on Zombie movies and how they reflect society and how they change media. Every Thursday (give or take) we watch a Zombie movie, and we get to do small assignments for bonus points about how we would realistically survive a zombie outbreak. I feel like this class will be the most beneficial one I've ever taken.

Also I have another class about low movies (specifically horror ones), and we watch horror movies nearly every Tuesday. I'm a huge wimp, I will never sleep again.

Anyone else have any interesting classes in either school or post-secondary education?

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	15. Who Knew?

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Fourteen – Who Knew?_

"Why are they here? How do they even exist?"

Sora looked up at Kairi, who was pacing back and fourth across the recreation room that he had created. He raised an eyebrow, watching her face scrunch up with annoyance. He knew that she wouldn't react well to the two Organization members being here once she woke up, so he couldn't be all that surprised that she was annoyed. Her sheer anger was a little surprisingly though. He chalked that up to hormones.

"I dunno, Kai. We're going to talk to them when they're all conscious but—"

"Is anyone watching them?" she demanded, still not looking at him as she paced. "Where are they anyway?"

"In the infirmar—"

"Shouldn't they be locked up somewhere? Just in case?"

"It'll be okay, I promise. Come here." He reached out, took her hand and pulled her to him so that she was sitting on his lap. "It'll be fine. I messed up once when I promised nothing would happen, but I mean it this time. This castle does whatever I want it to. If I want them to be trapped in a room with no doors or windows, they can be there. I just—I don't want to judge anyone too soon."

"I guess," Kairi muttered. "I just don't like Axel." Sora smiled slightly at her pout. While he didn't have quite the same qualms with Axel that she did, he could understand where her worry was coming from. She only ever experienced the Axel that captured her and tried to use her to get to him.

"Riku and Naminé both agree that Zexion was bad news too," Sora relented. "Roxas vouches for them though, but admittedly he's probably a bit biased. The overall thing is that we need to talk to them. Who knows, maybe now that they do have hearts they won't be that bad. They can feel guilt now. And Axel did save me too, remember?" He stopped talking, tucking her head under his chin as he ran his fingers through her hair. A frown appeared on his face as he admitted, "I'm not really worried about them anyway. We beat them before, and we can do it again. I'm worried about something else though."

She ran her fingers along the armour on his shoulder and said, "You're worried, because if they're back, then odds are all the other Organization members are too. Even then, it's Xehanort you're worried about, right?"

"Yeah," Sora said in a soft voice. They sat in silence for a few moments before he asked, "Do you want to be there while we talk to them?"

Kairi hesitated before shaking her head. "It's probably better if I'm not there. Mickey said that Mater Yen Sid will be here soon, right? I'll go wait for him. After all, if you're the Master of this castle, that makes me the Mistress, so I should be a good hostess." She played with the engagement ring on her finger, and Sora smiled at her.

"Probably a good idea. Don't worry though, we'll figure out what's going on. Trust me?"

She nodded her head. "Always."

**VVVVVV**

"Well, this isn't the welcome I expected."

Roxas turned his eyes to the red-haired man, who was cuffed down to the chair he was sitting on, and the silver-haired man sitting silently beside him. He shrugged a bit and said, "Caution."

"Yeah, but you know me Roxas! You could just loosen them a bit. They're kinda tight," he suggested, tugging at the handcuff.

Roxas shook his head and said, "Not my choice. Sora calls all of the shots here. More than you'd ever believe." If it was his choice, he would have gladly taken the handcuffs off of his friend's hands. Even he was slightly wary about Zexion though.

The door to the room opened and the three in the room looked around to see a large group walk in. Sora led the way with Mickey at his side, Naminé, Riku and Midori not far behind them, with Donald and Goofy bringing up the rear.

"Sora! Long time no see!" the redhead said cheerfully, but Sora didn't smile.

Instead, Sora crossed his arms in front of him and said, "Okay Axel, first things first, how are you alive?"

"Lea."

"Lee?"

"Yeah, but spelled L-E-A," he explained. "It's my name. Axel was my Nobody, "

"Wait, so your name is really just Lee-ah but you want to pronounce it Lee?" Roxas asked, amusement passing through his features.

Before Lea could answer, Sora groaned and said, "I don't care about that. How are you alive? Was there anyone else wherever you were before you came here?" He really wanted to get right to the point so that they could get any possible information.

Lea seemed surprised by how serious Sora was being and said, "I don't remember anything before waking up here."

This caught all of them off guard and Riku said, "What?"

"The last thing I remember in fading away, and that's it. I don't know about Izeno here though," Lea said, motioning to the other man, who had been silent the entire time.

"What's your story then?" Naminé demanded. While Zexion hadn't been directly cruel to her when she was imprisoned in Castle Oblivion, she didn't trust anyone from the Organization.

Izeno eyed her thoughtfully before shrugging.

"Wait," Roxas said suddenly, "didn't Vexen mention once that Zexion didn't talk when he was Izeno? Or that maybe he was just projecting the illusion of himself talking the entire time but never actually said a word himself?"

"Something like that," Lea answered with a nod.

"Ienzo," Sora said, deciding to try the good cop role, "do you remember anything from after your Nobody was destroyed?"

He shook his head.

"Okay, so the first thing you remember is waking up here?"

He nodded.

Sora sighed and fell back into the chair behind him, looking around at Mickey. "What now? They won't know if Xehanort is back or not."

Mickey shrugged and said, "I guess we wait to see what Master Yen Sid has to say." He didn't voice it, but something wasn't right about their stories. For a person to become whole, the Heartless and the Nobody had to be destroyed. It was possible that Lea and Ienzo's Heartless hadn't been destroyed until recently, but given that there truly weren't as many Heartless around before, and even then, they were usually only Shadows or variants of them, Mickey had a feeling that it wasn't the case. The only logical conclusion was that their memories had been wiped out. That thought disturbed the mouse a bit, but he didn't want to worry anyone else just yet. He would speak to Master Yen Sid first.

Sora nodded his head and said, "Okay. Roxas, you can take the cuffs off of them. But, you two have to stay in this room for now. Donald and Goofy will be on guard outside of the door. We'll bring you food later."

Donald and Goofy started to protest, but Midori interrupted them. "Isn't that a bit…paranoid of you?" She eyed Lea and Ienzo critically. "I don't think they mean any harm."

"Yeah, well, no offense," he nodded to Lea at this, "but it's the 'don't think' that I don't like. No taking chances. Not here."

"You mean Kairi will turn into a raging she-demon if you don't make sure," Naminé teased him. She seemed a little more at ease now that she knew that, odds were, Lea and Izeno were harmless.

"Something like that," Sora said with a sigh.

Mickey silently watched them all, and he couldn't help but think that Sora's caution might be more appropriate than any of them realized.

**VVVVVV**

Master Yen Sid was going to be later than expected. He sent a message to Mickey saying that something else had come up, something very interesting in the stars, but he would be along soon.

Hell if any of them knew what that meant. Mickey just shrugged and said that Yen Sid read stars. Riku could think of a ton of other things he'd rather read. Half of which he'd never let anyone know he actually owned (so what if he actually enjoyed Nicholas Sparks books).

That wasn't on his mind now. No, what was on Riku's mind was food. It had been a long, confusing morning, and he wanted nothing more than some unhealthy food in his body, since his one pizza pocket before Lea and Izeno showed up had been ruined. Maybe a chilly-cheese dog, or maybe he'd just stick with another pizza pocket so that he wouldn't have to wait long.

Roxas and Kairi were one step ahead of him in the gorging on bad food department. He walked into the massive kitchen and saw them sitting at the table with a huge tub of ice cream in front of them, each digging into it with their own spoon.

He was starting to wonder if it was going to be commonplace for him to see Kairi eating so much ice cream with someone. At lunch, he found Sora and Kairi laying on the floor covered in ice cream, and now he found Kairi and Roxas digging into the cold treat.

He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Ice cream again?" He walked by them and settled on more pizza pockets. He really wasn't in the mood to actually cook anything himself.

"This ice cream is awesome," Kairi said happily. "It's better than the stuff at Disney."

"She's right," Roxas agreed, gorging on the colourful delight that was between them. "It's almost as good as sea-salt ice cream. I think I'm going to make this a food group that has to be enjoyed every day."

"Every day?" Kairi asked him, sounding scandalized. "Twice a day! It's like vitamins, except, you know, the opposite."

Roxas held up his hand for a high-five, which she quickly gave him before taking a huge scoop of ice cream and eating it.

Riku chuckled a bit at them before sitting down at the table with his own food and asked, "So I guess covering yourself in ice cream earlier wasn't good enough? What happened to watching what you eat?"

"Riku, you don't understand," she said seriously, waving her spoon at him. "This ice cream is better than—than—it's better than sex!"

Roxas laughed and Riku gave her a bemused look. "Wow. Sora's that much of a disappointment, and yet you go at it as much as you do."

She glared at him for a moment before saying, "From the official female comparison of their boyfriends that we do at school, it's been accepted that, from the fact provided by me, and by all your former girlfriends, that Sora's much better at what he does than you are." Roxas looked torn between wanting to laugh and being confused. "Besides, this ice cream is just freaking orgasmic."

"Does that really exist?" Roxas asked her curiously. Kairi didn't answer, she just smiled at him smugly.

Riku rolled his eyes at her as he sat at the table and took a bite of his pizza pocket. He chewed for a moment before asking, "Are you sure that's Sora's kid in there? Cause I'm starting to think that you and Roxas had a fling, and now you're going to spawn a blond demon that only lives on ice cream."

Kairi laughed at this and spoke with a voice dripping with sarcasm, "You caught me. I cheat on Sora with Roxas every second day or so. That's why he doesn't complain about Naminé abstaining, and now I'm carrying his child and Sora just thinks it's his. Right, Roxas?"

There was a silence.

"Roxas?" she asked, looking around at him.

The blond looked like he had been frozen in time. His eyes were huge, and his mouth was open in shock, the hand holding his spoon of ice cream frozen midair.

"Are you okay?" Kairi asked as she scooted a way from him a little bit. He was honestly freaking her out.

Riku gave Roxas an odd look. He always knew that the blond was a weird, but still, this was really weird. He thought over their conversation, and his eyes went wide when he replayed what had been said.

Roxas had impeccable timing. The second that Donald opened the kitchen door, he practically shouted, "You're pregnant?"

Everything, even the electronics, seemed to go silent as Roxas stared at Kairi with shock, and she stared back with a deer-in-headlights expression. Riku looked from one to other before looking at the door and seeing Donald staring at them with just as much shock, if not more. He wasn't the only one though. Apparently, Naminé and Midori had been coming for supper at the same time, and they heard his yell too.

"What?" Donald burst out "What do you mean—you're not—what?"

Kairi looked from Roxas to Donald, and then to the door where Naminé and Midori stood. Naminé's eyes were huge, but Midori didn't seem all that surprised.

"I—I—" She looked around, feeling suffocated under all of the stares, especially Naminé's, which shifted into something unreadable. Kairi desperately tried to control the tears that were threatening to build up, but a whimper managed to escape her lips. She threw her spoon down and got up from her chair. She swiftly made her way to the door, not looking at anyone, and trying to get by everyone else as fast as she could.

"Kairi!" Naminé broke out of her stupor first, and took off after her cousin. She caught up with her quickly, and grabbed her arm. "Wait!"

"Let go of me." She had wanted it to come out as a sharp demand, but it ended up sounding more like a desperate plea.

"No Kairi, I just—"

"Let go!" Kairi shrieked and tugged at her arm powerfully. She managed to get her arm away from Naminé, but ended up tripping over her own two feet and towards the stairs. She screamed as she fell back, her arms instinctively wrapping around her waist. Luckily, Naminé's reflexes were sharp from training with magic and her Keyblade. Her arms shot out, grasped a hold of Kairi and pulled her back, stopping her from falling down the steep stairs.

There was a pause and then Kairi wrapped her arms around Naminé, breathing in and out heavily. Naminé hugged her back, and said, "It'll be okay Kairi."

She chuckled bitterly and said, "Right. I bet in your head, you're going 'told ya so' or something like that."

Naminé shook her head and said, "That would be… petty of me. You're my cousin, basically my sister. You make a mistake. Saying 'told ya so' won't change it." She paused, staring at Kairi with sympathy. "How'd Sora take it?"

Kairi wiped her tears away, taking a step back from her. She smiled sadly and said, "He freaked out and we fought over it. But he apologized, and he's in for the long run. That was way back at Disney. The day I shoved ice cream in his face."

"Okay," Naminé sad with a nod. She looped her arm through Kairi's and led her down the hall, "first thing first, we fix up your makeup again, and get you ready because Yen Sid will be here any minute. Then, you go downstairs looking awesome and confident, no tears, and listen to what he has to say. After, if you want to talk about it, we talk about it."

Kairi smiled and said, "But aren't you hungry?"

"Well, yeah," Naminé said with a shrug, "but I figure my dear sweet cousin could pull the pregnancy card and get some of the good food later."

She smiled and said, "That, I can do." She was so glad that Naminé was taking this so well. In honesty, she was the one Kairi was worried about telling the most. Naminé proved to be a better person than Kairi took her for though.

Back in the kitchen, everyone had different reactions. Riku already knew, so he just ate his pizza pockets in silence, and Midori seemed rather calm as well. Roxas was silent, a puzzled look on his face as he slowly came to the realization that he was going to be an uncle, something that was just blowing his mind. Donald's feathers were red from anger.

"Gawrsh, what happened here?"

They all looked around at Goofy, who had just entered the room and picked up on the stunned and shocked vibe echoing through the kitchen.

Midori sighed, ran a hand through her black hair and said, "Everyone found out that Kairi's pregnant. She freaked and ran. Naminé's with her. Everything should be fine."

"Oh, okay."

"That's it?" Donald demanded. "Just okay?"

Goofy rubbed the back of his head. "Gawrsh Donald, it was kind of obvious. She was acting just like Maxie's mom did. I figured that when we picked up them and she was all tired on the gummi ship and fainted."

Midori couldn't help but be amused by the fact that, out of everyone, Goofy was the first one to pick up on the truth.

**VVVVVV**

The library was a massive room with two stories, with polished marble floors, and decorated ivory walls. The bookcases were a dark cherry wood, filled with an impossible amount of books. There were long tables with comfortable chairs everywhere.

Roxas, of course, made a jab at Sora not needing any books, but he just shrugged and said that Kairi thought it'd be a good idea. Plus the castle generated just about every comic book ever. There was an entire section dedicated to them.

The library was where Master Yen Sid chose for them to meet. Donald and Goofy were once again keeping an eye on Lea and Ienzo, both of whom seemed very tired and worn out over whatever it was that happened to them.

The second that Kairi's eyes met Yen Sid's, she knew that he knew about her child growing in her womb. She was a bit intimidated and embarrassed, but she sat tall beside Sora, not letting anyone see how nervous and scared she was as she grasped Sora's hand tightly under the table.

Mickey sat to Yen Sid's right, looking equally as serious. Everyone else just sat in random spots.

"Master Yen Sid," Sora started, almost shyly and hesitantly, "two people appeared in Twilight's Destiny. We don't know how or why. Lea and Izeno. Their Nobodies were Axel and Zexion of the Organization. I was just wondering…" Sora trailed off.

"How such a thing was possible?" Yen Sid asked calmly. Sora nodded almost sheepishly. "When the Heartless and the Nobody of a person are both destroyed, the original is reborn."

"What?" they all asked together.

"Wait, so does that mean that Xehanort _is_ back?" Sora asked, his heart sinking.

"Riku finally destroyed the Heartless that buried itself within him for good, and together, you defeated Xemnas. This will lead to the rise of Master Xehanort."

"Master…Xehanort?" Roxas asked slowly.

"Yes," Yen Sid said, "the Xehanort you knew was not the true Xehanort. Over a decade ago, Keyblade Master Xehanort manipulated two Keyblade Bearers, much like yourself—"

"Three," Mickey said quickly, "your memory slips sometimes Master, remember?"

"Yes, I remember," Yen Sid said after a moment. "Forgive me, the memories are yours to keep, Mickey. Master Xehanort had horribly marvelous plans. He manipulated a young man, a Keyblade Bearer such as yourselves, to accepting the darkness, and possessing his body."

Riku made an odd sound before he said, "Then he tried to do the same with me."

"Yes," Yen Sid said with a stern nod.

"Xehanort was a Keyblade Master?" Sora asked, awe and horror on his face.

"Yes," the old man answered. "Though his memories were ripped apart by another Keyblade Master named Aqua. Unfortunately, she vanished soon after the fact. The past is not what I must urgently speak to you about though. The arrival of both Lea and Ienzo has foreshadowed the arrival of Master Xehanor himself."

"That creature," Kairi whispered suddenly, causing everyone to look at her. "That…Endless…it was his, wasn't it?"

"Xehanort did indeed create the Endless," Yen Sid said, "though how, I cannot be sure. The last time they appeared, they were far less advanced, and easily destroyed. Now it is hard to see a weakness within them."

"What does Xehanort want?" Midori asked curiously. "He must want something."

"What he's always wanted," Mickey answered. "Kingdom Hearts."

"What exactly do you think he's trying to do?" Roxas wondered.

"And what can we do?" Naminé added.

"Those are both good questions. Xehanort made his plans clear in the past. He wished to unlock the powers within Kingdom Hearts. I believe that is still his goal, hence why Ansem and Xemnas both attempted to obtain the power of Kingdom Hearts, something that Xehanort always knew could never happen. Those memories were shattered in him though. I firmly believe that Xehanort is manipulating the strings of several people towards his goal. I cannot say how he is doing so, or whom he is manipulating. It is what he did last time, and the stars scream of manipulation. What I do know, is that several other keys have been appearing in the worlds."

"The other Keyblade Bearers," Sora said with a nod, "do you know why?"

"As Mickey mentioned to you before, the Keyblades only appear in such quantities at a time of great crisis. At first, it appeared as if Keyblades were appearing to those who were not marked, which would be a cause for alarm. On my second analysis, I came to the conclusion that a single person marked them all, without knowing it."

"What do you mean marked?"

"Except for in a time of great darkness, only those who inherit the powers of the Keyblade are those who are marked. A Master of the Keyblade chooses one, or several, apprentices to train in the ways of the Keyblade. It is normal to mark them when they are quite young, so that their bodies can grow with the power of the Keyblade. I myself took Mickey as my apprentice, my final apprentice."

"Your fi—you're a Keyblade Master?" Sora asked, his eyes widening in shock.

"At one time, I did wield a Keyblade," Yen Sid said with a nod. "Those times have come and gone though, and I am simply an old sorcerer now."

"You mentioned that to me before, Mickey," Riku nodded at him. "You said that Sora was special in that way. But none of us had Masters."

"That is not entirely true," Yen Sid explained. "You were marked, but your Masters were lost before they could train you. You, Riku, were marked by Terra, an apprentice who was on the verge of becoming a Master before Xehanort's darkness overcame him. I believe that is why he was drawn to you." Riku looked down at the floor at this, trying to remember meeting someone in his distant past, but he couldn't.

"Kairi, you were marked before even Riku was," he told her. "You were marked by Master Aqua. Though Naminé herself was not marked, through you, she gained her right to wield a Keyblade. Midori, I cannot say exactly how you were marked, Forbidden World hides its secrets, even from me, but I can sense that you were." His eyes slid over to Sora and Roxas. "You two are something all together different."

"I can use my Keyblade because Sora can, right?" Roxas asked.

"It is my belief that, unlike Naminé, you did have the power of a Keyblade Bearer in the body that you were born with. Being within Sora simply unlocked it without a Master. Sora, you were never marked. You are the exception, because you were born a Keyblade Master."

"Well yeah," Sora said, his brows furrowing with confusion. "Weren't we all?"

"No. You were all born with the ability to use a Keyblade. A Master chooses an apprentice and unlocks their abilities within them. They train the apprentice, and teach them how to use a Keyblade, all of the tricks of the trade, if you will. Then, they must pass a Mark of Mastery Examination. Aqua passed hers, Terra did not, but there is always more than one opportunity to try."

"Wait, so none of us are actually Masters, except for Sora and Mickey" Riku asked.

Yen Sid nodded and said, "Not yet. That is another reason why I am here. There are hard times approaching, and we will need all the Keyblade Masters we can to help quickly train those who have Keyblades now. They cannot have a formal education, and will never be Masters, but they will be able to defend their homes."

"It was me, wasn't it?" Sora asked sheepishly, referring to the one who marked everyone else.

"Yes," Yen Sid actually seemed amused for a moment. "Do not fret though. All of you will be expected to help train, especially since it would not be fair to throw that at you, on top of becoming the King of Twilight's Destiny, and a father." Sora paled a bit at this. "That is why, Roxas and Riku, there will be trials ahead of you. Trials of the heart. I will be watching from afar, and I will choose if you have met the Mark."

"Why not us?" Midori asked.

"Unfortunately, you three still have more to learn. Sora, Roxas and Riku have had much more training with their weapons. As well, it would hardly be fair to put one with child through such a stressful test."

"So I'm assuming that we should go around and get everyone to get them a bit of training," Sora said, "because Xehanort is back with his freaky Endless, which are stronger than you've ever seen, and we have no idea what he's doing. That, and Roxas and Riku are going to be tested the entire time. Plus I have to figure out what to do with Lea and Izeno. Awesome. On top of all of that, we don't actually know what Xehanort is going to do, when he'll do it, where he'll do it, or how he'll do it. Did I sum that up good enough?"

"You forgot the part where this place is going to come back together and you'll probably have to be here to deal with people freaking out," Roxas pointed out carelessly, causing Naminé to smack his arm.

"And you knocked up your girlfriend." This time Riku received a slap from Midori.

Kairi gave him a guilty smile and Sora couldn't say a word about this. He let out a sigh, looked at Master Yen Sid and asked, "Is that everything?" It came out as more of plea.

Master Yen Sid looked over at Mickey, who slowly nodded and the old man said, "There is something else, something about the past that you need to know."

"Aside from Xehanort being a Keyblade Master?" Riku asked warily.

Mickey smiled almost bitterly, and it was an incredibly odd look. He nodded his head and said, "It has to do with that. It also has to do with Terra and Aqua…and Ventus."

"Ventus?" Sora and Roxas asked at the same time, exchanging odd looks. He was the one that had helped Sora discover a way to find Kairi.

Mickey nodded and said, "Yes. You see, first and foremost, Ventus was your older brother."

**VVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Did everyone see all the new KH3D stuff that came out? OMG I AM SO EXCITED! Their new clothes are pretty cool. So from what I get, older Sora and Riku go and see Yen Sid, and get sent into their dreams. Hence why Sora and Riku look like an odd combination of their KH1 and 2 selves.

It's kinda cool that they're adding in The World Ends With You, but it sucks that the release date is Spring 2012 in Japan. I was kinda hoping for sooner, but what can ya do? Makes more time to save for a 3DS.

I've come to a conclusion: sometime in between the secret ending of BBS, where we see Sora, Riku and Kairi, and actually going to see Yen Sid, Riku's mom hacked off all of his hair. That's why you see him with that short hair even in his KH2 duds.

Also, Sora and Riku are now Pokemon Masters. I don't care what those things are actually called (I did read what they were, but I don't care), I'm calling them 'FatBlue Unidog' and 'Acid-Trip Woobat'. Really though, you could probably blop those right in with the new generation of Pokemon and no one would question it. They're probably supposed to be good Dream Eaters to help guide them or something.

Seriously, I'm just too excited for life!

Anyway, thank you to everyone who reviewed! You guys are awesome! Awesome people include: Shire Folk, Trainalf, Q-A the Authoress, xNINJABLADE45x, Eddie Camp, Twilight Cardmistress, EvilxLittlexNinja and The 666th necrophiliac!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	16. Brother, My Brother

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Fifteen – Brother, My Brother_

Sora and Roxas stared at Mickey with huge eyes. They looked at one another before looking back at him. Sora let out a snort of laughter, and Roxas raised an eyebrow at his twin.

"No, really," Sora said as he laughed. "Who is Ventus? I'm sure if I had an older brother, I'd remember him."

Mickey shook his head and said, "You wouldn't remember, because the memories were taken away from you. I assure you though, Sora, Ventus was your older brother."

Sora stared at Mickey, waiting for him to laugh and say he was just kidding, or that he was mistaken, but he looked serious. At this revelation, the smile melted off of his face, replaced with a desperate look of confusion. "What?"

"I guess I should start with what Ventus himself explained to me," Mickey said, "but you guys might want to sit back, because this is a crazy story, and I don't know all of it. I guess it started before Ventus, Aqua and Terra. It started with three other apprentices: Xehanort, Eraqus and Nevaeh. All three trained under their Master, but when the time came for him to choose his true successor, though Xehanort was the oldest and had been training the longest, he chose Eraqus. The story goes that Xehanort became bitter with Eraqus, and they had some sort of argument, causing him to leave. Nevaeh was the last to become a Master, and chose to wander the worlds." He stopped talking and looked at Master Yen Sid, who cleared his throat to get their attention.

"There was one world that all Keyblade Masters paid attention to. One of the few worlds that lived in the darkness and the light equally. Though it was not the only one, the world was special because of the power that could be found there. Kingdom Hearts."

"Here," Naminé said, a knowing look on her face.

"That is correct. It was a very guarded world because of the power within. The King or Queen would always be a target, because they had the power within them. That is why this world had such strict marriage rules. It was the belief that, as along as there was someone ready to take the throne, the world would be safe. It was a true belief. The one who had the power running in them acts as a two-way receptor, if you will. They channel the power into the world, giving it life, and in return, the power of the people's hearts goes to Kingdom Hearts, keeping it alive."

"That explains why this place started to rebuild itself after Sora got the powers," Roxas said with a nod.

"That's nice and all," Sora interrupted impatiently, "but really, I'd like to hear the story about this brother that I can't remember."

"Right, sorry," Mickey said quickly. "Anyway, the point is, is that Keyblade Masters would watch this world. Nevaeh was meeting the royal family one day when she met their son and saw the potential to use a Keyblade within him. She marked him and unlocked the power. Before she could return though, she was killed. Is that right, Master?"

Yen Sid nodded.

"This boy's name was Ventus Hikari. His mother, Ayame, always wanted a big family, but she never had any other kids until she was older and Ven was already eleven. Actually, at his eleventh birthday, there was an attack of some sort, he never told me who did it, and Ven summoned his Keyblade. To most, it was like he had just summoned one without being marked."

"There is a prophecy," Yen Sid explained, "that foretold the arrival of a born Keyblade Master who could wield the powers of Kingdom Hearts as well. Such a child would be a powerful ally to anyone, and Master Xehanort knew that."

"He thought that Ven was the child," Mickey said. "So he appeared to train him. He couldn't get Ven to use the darkness though, and the Princess, Ayame, hid her pregnancy from him. So he took the darkness out of Ventus' heart completely. According to Ven, it became an actual person, someone who I had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting. His name was Vanitas, and if I had to say it, he was more dangerous that Xehanort ever was. As you know, Twilight's Destiny was destroyed. At that time though, Ventus ran into Master Eraqus, who took him under his wing with his other two apprentices: Aqua and Terra. They trained together for years. I know Aqua became a Master, and that Terra just missed the Mark."

"How?" Riku asked.

"He let the darkness rule his heart," Yen Sid answered, to which Riku looked down.

"Xehanort manipulated everyone though. Along with his apprentice, Vanitas, he unleashed the Unversed and the Endless, though the latter was very weak and rarely ever used. Terra, Aqua and Ven traveled to different worlds, helping people just like you Sora. Terra in search of Xehanort and to prove himself, Aqua to save the worlds and watch out for her friends, and Ven…well…he was supposed to stay home. He knew that you were in danger though, Sora, so he went in search of you. Terra was tricked into thinking that you were the cause of the Unversed and tried to take you, but Ven and Aqua stopped him. I don't know what happened, but you were taken by Vanitas, and Master Eraqus' world, Land of Departure, was destroyed by Xehanort. Ven figured out where you were, and I went with him." Mickey shook his head at this. "Xehanort planned for Ven and Vanitas to fight to create a powerful weapon, but Vanitas got tired of him. He tried to kill him. You saved him."

"Me?" Sora was surprised by this.

"You summoned the Kingdom Key and used it with your mind. You had to, it was bigger than you were. Vanitas attacked you instead, and you were gravely hurt. I used my Star Shard, the device I used to get around, to transport us to a safe world: Radiant Garden. Before that, Aqua and I saved a young girl, the Princess." His eyes shifted to Kairi, who jerked with surprise, before he looked back at Sora. "I didn't stick around long after that. I do know that you should have died, but Ventus did something, I dunno what, and you lived. The next time I saw any of them, we were in the Keyblade Graveyard. I have no idea what became of Terra, but I do have some theories. I found Aqua unconscious, and Vanitas had taken over Ventus. We fought him, but it was Aqua alone who defeated him. She destroyed the weapon that was created, and there was a powerful explosion. Ventus' body vanished, but he was…he was dead before that." Mickey looked down sadly at this. "A while later, Aqua came to Master Yen Sid's tower. To protect you, to protect everyone else, and to honour Ven's last wishes, she erased all of the memories of him. She made me their keeper though, and I'm the only one that truly remembers him. She did this so that, one day, they could be retrieved."

"What happened to her?" Midori asked curiously. "And Terra?"

"Like I said, I don't know what became of Terra. I never really interacted with him, and when he was there, I only saw glimpses of him. The situations were always so hurried. I don't know how exactly Vanitas took over Ventus. I don't know exactly how he died. And I don't know what happened to Aqua either. She and I went to Radiant Garden because the darkness was taken over. She went one way, and I went another to save as many as I could. I never saw her again."

"But you said that Xehanort took over someone else's body, right?" Riku asked. "Do you think it was Terra?"

"There is a good possibility that is correct," Yen Sid answered. "This gives hope, because it's possible that, with the destruction of the Heartless and the Nobody and the reformation of the original, Terra may be able to gain control again. Or perhaps it forced Xehanort and Terra to split already. I cannot tell yet."

Sora was staring down at his hands, which were shaking. He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head violently before standing up and quickly leaving the room.

**VVVVVV**

"Sora?"

Kairi peered into their room and quickly found who she was looking for. Sora's eyes were glued onto the ceiling. Balancing a plate of food in one hand, she walked in, closing the door behind her. She placed the plate on the small table that was in the room, and moved so that she was sitting beside him. She brushed a hand through his hair and he looked at her with sad eyes.

"Oh Sora," she whispered sadly, playing with his hair.

"I can't remember him," he replied just as quietly. "My older brother who gave everything for me, and I can't remember him at all. My mom…she didn't know either."

Kairi shifted so that she was laying beside him and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close so that his forehead rested on her collarbone. She hugged him tightly and said, "You can get the memories back though. I'll help you however I can."

Sora smiled a little bit and moved so that his arms were around her. He kissed her shoulder and said, "There's nothing you can do, but thank you."

She shrugged a bit and said, "You're here for me, I'm here for you. That's the way it works. I'm fine now, you're not, so we need to make you better."

Sora shook his head a bit and said, "Not something you can just put a band-aid on, Iri."

There was a pause before Kairi spoke in a voice so stern that it startled him, "We'll get your memories back, Sora. We'll go around and get the other Keyblade Bearers to help train them so that when Xehanort and his stupid Endless actually reveal what they're up to, we won't have to worry as much. There'll be more of us."

"Yeah," he said after a moment. "You'll be out of commission so—"

"What? Why?"

He gave her an odd look before saying, "You're pregnant?"

She blushed a bit and said, "Right. I forget that I'll have to take it easy soon. I'll be okay for now. We're just going to get people, right? I don't want to stay here alone."

Sora sighed and sat up. He stared at her and said, "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Please?"

He hesitated before saying, "If you come, you have to promise me something."

"Anything."

"If I tell you to run, you need to get away from wherever we are as quickly as you can. If I tell you to stay behind, you need to stay behind, and if something happens to me—" He held up his hand when he saw her about to interrupt. "If something happens to me, you need to promise that you'll be keep yourself safe and you won't run after me."

"Why?"

"Because we both know someone actually messed with you so that you would get pregnant. Someone wants not just a kid, but ours specifically. Odds are, Xehanort influenced that somehow. It's safe in you for now, but someone may try to use me to get you to go to them. It's happened with us time and time again. So you have to promise that no matter what happens, you'll stay safe."

Kairi slowly nodded her head, looking upset (though, surprisingly, there were no tears). They both hugged each other close, Sora's mind engulfed with his unknown past, and Kairi's fearful of her unsure future.

**VVVVVV**

It was early in the morning and Mickey walked through the castle silently. The door to Sora and Kairi's large room was open, and he peaked inside as he drew close. They were facing the door, Sora's arm wrapped around her waist, and they both looked so calm and peaceful for a moment. Mickey smiled at this, and grabbed the doorknob, quietly closing the door so that no one else would disturb them. They would have to get up soon anyway, but he decided to let them sleep a while longer.

They all agree the night before that they were going to leave to bring the other Keyblade Bearers back to Twilight's Destiny, where the castle could be shaped specifically for their training. They all agreed that they were going to do it as quickly as possible.

There were still some issues to address, specifically the presences of Lea and Ienzo. Kairi made it clear that she didn't want them coming, Riku pointed out that leaving them alone in the castle could be a very bad idea, and Roxas pointed out that they were all being paranoid jerks.

After listening to Kairi, Riku and Roxas argue, Naminé, Sora and Midori all voted to leave them there but with supervision.

That was why, not only were Donald and Goofy staying behind, but Mickey was as well. On top of that, Yen Sid agreed to stay in the castle, sealing off his own home for the time being. It was only until they returned with all of the other Keyblade Bearers, so it wasn't much of a problem.

Riku, Midori, Naminé, Donald and Goofy were already up and eating breakfast by the time Mickey made his way to the kitchen. He looked around curiously and Naminé said, "Roxas is getting Lea and Ienzo. He doesn't think that they should be completely locked up."

"Where are Sora and Kairi?" Donald asked curiously.

"I went by their room earlier, and they were both still asleep. They both looked so peaceful. I didn't have the heart to wake them up," Mickey explained.

A few moments later, Roxas came into the room with Lea and Ienzo. They were all silent, though Lea looked like he wanted to start up a conversation.

When Sora and Kairi finally showed up, she ignored Lea and Ienzo, grabbing a plate and quickly filling it with twice as much food as Sora put on his.

Roxas raised an eyebrow and said, "I don't think you actually need that much food."

Kairi glared at him and said, "Maybe not, but I want it."

"Want some anchovies, pickles and chocolate sauce on it?" Riku teased her. They were both just trying to make light of the situation, but from the look on her face, it was obvious that she wasn't taking it that way.

Ienzo raised an eyebrow at them, and Lea blinked as the conversation really set in. He glanced at them a surprised look on his features, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

"So, what's the plan?" Sora asked with a yawn.

"Well, we need to get Mulan, Hercules, Peter Pan, Stitch, Aladdin, Ariel, Jack Sparrow, and Jack Skellington, and whoever else we find along the way," Naminé said thoughtfully.

"There may be others," Mickey said with a nod. "That's going to be on you Sora. You'll be able to sense them. I doubt that we met everyone last time."

"What's the closest world?" Roxas asked.

Sora tuned everything else out, though he knew for a fact that he should have been paying attention to what was going on. Instead, he was watching Kairi with amusement as she ate her mass amount of food. He had no idea where she put it all.

Kairi seemed to realize that he was staring at her after a while and glanced over at him almost shyly. Her cheeks turned pink and she quickly looked away. Sora just chuckled a bit before looking at everyone else, who was silently staring at him.

'_Asked if you had an opinion on where we should go first,'_ Roxas' voice whispered in his head.

"Sorry," he said aloud, "spaced out for a minute. Right, the worlds. Well, Radiant Garden is close to here, but we don't want to go there yet. Land of Dragons isn't too far, right? We could always go and get Mulan first."

"I think that'd work, but we need to address Radiant Garden as well," Mickey said. "I'll organize another meeting this afternoon and patch it through to the gummi ship. Don't worry Kairi, I'll give you a bit of a script to go by. Don't let them intimidate you. Naminé, get ready to dealing with some people who are going to be quick on trying to put you with someone of their choosing."

Both girls nodded and left to prepare themselves.

**VVVVVV**

Sora didn't like the thought of leaving Mickey, Donald and Goofy behind, but it needed to be done, at least for now. While he got the strong impression that they could trust Lea and Ienzo, he still understood the reason for taking precautions.

Mostly though, he really wished Mickey was there because Kairi was close to hyperventilating at the thought of having to talk to official people about how she didn't want anything to do with them.

"You're going to be fine," Sora muttered to her after Mickey, through the computer, said that he was going to punch the officials through. "Look confident, okay?"

"I dunno if I can do this," she whispered back. Naminé and Roxas were standing off to the side, out of view of the camera, and Riku and Midori had volunteered to fly the ship, hopefully as smoothly as possible so they wouldn't look like idiots, falling to the ground on camera and everything.

"Yes you can. Be the confident Kairi we all know," Naminé said encouragingly.

"You'll be free from them," Roxas pointed out.

Sora leaned close to her and said, so the other two couldn't hear, "Do it for me and the baby then."

She glanced up at him for a moment before a determined look appeared on her face as she turned to look at the screen, straightening her posture.

Mickey appeared a second later and said, "Okay, I'm patching them through now Kairi. Don't let them intimidate you like they might try to. You ready?'

"Yeah," she answered, suddenly feeling much more confident then before.

"Okay." The screen went blank for a moment before a new picture appeared. There was a long, polished table with several men sitting at it, staring at (presumably) the camera and screen in front of them. Kairi noticed that all of them were at least middle-aged men, though there were a handful of older ones as well. She wasn't expecting that many people, but she took it in strides. These were the people that even toyed with the notion of taking her from her family when they didn't even really need the royalty to run Radiant Garden.

"Princess, it is good to actually see you again, though it would be optimal if you were here in person," said the man sitting the farthest away from her. "I am quite sure that you would be much more comfortable here than you have been with…lesser comforts." It wasn't lost on any of them watching that his eyes flickered to Sora with distaste.

Before Kairi could reply to that, another man said, "Yes, well, she will be here soon enough. Princess, I must say, you are as much of a beauty as your mother was. I am sure that you will be an acceptable role model for Radiant Garden once you are given proper attire."

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Kairi asked crossly, folding her arms in front of her defensively. Even if she wasn't a walking bag of a raging hormones, they would have got on her nerves.

"Oh my poor dear," the oldest man said. "You have grown as a mere commoner. There is much for you to learn once you return to your true home. It will take a while to break you of these poor habits, but I have no doubt it can be done. Your mother was the perfect essence of what a royal woman must be."

"Of course, royal protocol called for you to be betrothed before your sixteenth birthday and married before your eighteenth, but due to the circumstances you will be excused. However, we will hold your wedding to the Duke of Boronia as soon as possibly, preferably within two or three days of your return. We assume that these peasants are escorting you home."

"The Duke of Boronia?" Sora blurted out, raising an eyebrow.

A slightly overweight, middle aged man with a thick brown moustache, a receding hairline of platinum blond hair (that was obviously dyed), and a huge nose turned his giant snout into the air and said, "I am the Duke of Boronia, boy, and my fiancé had best be returned to me still whole." It didn't take a genius to figure out what he was talking about.

Kairi felt like throwing up then and there when she stared at the man. She wondered what the hell her parents were thinking when they paired her with someone who was about twenty years her senior. She didn't know what Radiant Garden was like, but she didn't like it.

Still, she felt more than just nauseous. She was practically shaking with anger. Her indigo eyes narrowed and she said, "I would never marry a disgusting old man like you. I'd rather give myself over to the Heartless." She felt a little smug at their almost scandalized looks.

"You have no choice," the Duke of Boronia said to her. "You were promised to me in writing by your parents, approved by King Ansem himself. You are mine."

This time, Sora scowled at him, but Kairi just reached out and took his hand into her own, squeezing it reassuringly. Sora was a little surprised when she suddenly smiled brightly at the men on the screen.

"I've been pretty rude. Didn't even introduce you," she said, pulling Sora close to her, hugging his arm as she molded herself to his side. She waved her left hand at the camera and said, "This is Sora Hikari, he's the…" She hesitated, not sure what Sora's title was. There was no coronation, but Twilight's Destiny needed a king. She decided to go with them. "He's the King of Twilight's Destiny, and my fiancé. King trumps Duke, and none of that paper work exists anymore. The only reason I'm talking to you was to let you know that I'm not going to be your Queen."

All of them men were suddenly in an uproar, especially the Duke. She was secretly taking pleasure in watching the uptight men panic. She really hoped that they were just some sort of representatives, and not the actual working government of Radiant Garden, otherwise, she could see the quality of living going downhill quickly to many of the people there.

"You—you can't do that!" the Duke roared at them, causing Kairi to wince and take a step away from the screen, put Sora place a comforting hand on her back.

She took a deep breath and said, "I can, and I am. I've already signed the right documents saying that I'm turning down the throne of Radiant Garden. You'll have those soon. Don't worry though, we've also thought of a solution, so if you shut the hell up, I'll tell you it."

The men were suddenly silent, staring at her with looks that ranged from wary to outraged.

"You remember that my mother was a twin, right? Great," she didn't wait for them to answer. "Well, in light of me stepping aside, my lovely cousin Naminé is willing to step in and take the throne. Nami?"

The blonde girl walked forward confidently and smiled brilliantly at the men. Before they could put in a single word she said, "Hello. As Kairi mentioned, she and I are cousins. Since she's the first in line for the throne, but has backed away from it, I am the next in line, and I have decided to accept the title. This works out well for everyone, because I am still seventeen, so no rules were broken."

There was a silence before the Duke said, "She's an acceptable replacement."

Naminé pulled a look of fake surprise as she said, "Oh, sir, you got the wrong impression. I never had any sort of arrangement to marry someone. My parents never even bothered looking. I know that I need to be married though, so in the upcoming weeks, I'll be marrying Roxas Hikari, Prince of Twilight's Destiny." She smiled at them again, pulling Roxas so that he could be seen as well, flashing a ring at them. It wasn't actually an engagement ring, but just one Roxas had given to her as a present on Christmas. It was nice enough to be mistaken for an engagement ring from far away though.

"What—but she—"

"Is correct," the eldest man said, sounding defeated. "There never was a marriage contract written up. Very well, how quickly can you return, Princess?"

"There's a bit of a crisis at hand," Naminé replied. "Involving the possible threat of Heartless, Nobodies, and possibly something worse. Seeing how we're all Keyblade Bearers, we need to deal with that. We'll be there soon enough though."

Roxas moved so that he was out of view of the camera and started fiddling with the wires, making it seem like the transmission was being cut. He grinned at Naminé once the camera and screen were off and said, "We can go over details later with them."

"That wasn't so bad," Sora said to Kairi, who was still staring at the screen. He waited for her to reply, and frowned with worry when she didn't move. "Kairi?"

Kairi clapped her hand over her mouth and rushed out of the room, towards the closest washroom.

"Well," Roxas said, watching her go. "That's one way to look at it."

**VVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Sorry for the wait. I've been having a lot of trouble with my computer lately. It really hates me. I've decided to take the money that I was saving up for a vacation and use it to get an actual working computer. I kind of need it. Too bad I have to be picky and want an iMac.

That, and I've had a lot of school work to do lately. Luckily, I was able to drop a horrible class that I had, so now not only do I have extra time to do work, but I actually enjoy all of my classes. It's a good thing.

Oh, and Pottermore. I've been having a lot of fun with that, though it is a little bit boring now, but talking to all of the different people is really interesting. And forget what the books said, the real house rivalry is Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Keep fighting over the top spot in house points. It's basically the only thing to do right now. I'm a Ravenclaw though, so it entertains me a bit.

Anyway, note for this story: The Duke of Boronia is purposely not the one mentioned in Shadows of Sleep (not that I expected anyone to actually remember the small details from that). And yes, Boronia is a flower, as are all of the official titles in Radiant Garden.

For anyone wondering, since the story of Ventus/Aqua/Terra is so different in the rewrites compared to my original, their stories aren't done yet. We'll definitely be seeing more of them.

I don't really have anything else to say. Thank you to everyone who reviewed! You guys are awesome! This includes Twilight Cardmistress, Q-A the Authoress, Atem's Sister Atea, xNINJABLADE45x, Shifuni, EvilxLittlexNinja, The 666th necrophiliac, Shire Folk, SilverPaopu and Eddie Camp!

Remember, reviews make every author happy! It lets them know that their work is appreciated by at least a few people!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	17. The Secret Whispers

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Sixteen – The Secret Whispers_

Sora couldn't sleep.

Even with a perfectly working gummi ship, it was still a fairly long trip to Land of Dragons, and everyone settled down to sleep. Unlike the gummi ship they had before, this one was smaller with three bedrooms, four bathrooms, a galley, the bridge, some storage, and a larger storage room down below that was filled with beds for the other Keyblade Bearers.

They planned to take the bigger ship from Disney, but there was a mishap involving Goofy and landing gear. Sora seriously was starting to wonder why any of his Disney friends were allowed near anything that flew.

Riku and Roxas were sharing the bunks in one room, while Naminé and Midori were in another one. Roxas joked that nobody else wanted to deal with Kairi getting up early to puke. Kairi joked that Naminé didn't want Roxas to try and jump her while she was asleep due to sexual frustration.

Sora was used to sleeping in moving vehicles. In fact, he found it easier to sleep. Whether it was the motion of the ship, the gentle movements of a boat on the waves, or even just the slight rocking of a hammock, he found himself falling asleep easily. Now though, he couldn't get to sleep no matter what he tried. He was honestly exhausted, his eyes burning from tiredness, and his whole body just ached. He wasn't sure why though.

There were small blessings in life though, and one of them was that Kairi was sleeping peacefully when he woke up. He didn't want to wake her, so he left the room and went to the bridge. He sat on one of the large chairs, his hair and clothes a mess, and his legs pulled up to his chest as he stared out the window blankly.

If he could be honest to his brother and his friends, he was scared. No, he was downright terrified. He didn't know how to run a kingdom, but it was looking like he was going to have to. He didn't like knowing an enemy was going to strike and not be able to do anything about it. And he certainly wasn't ready to be a father. Still, there wasn't a thing he could do about any of those facts at the moment.

His thoughts turned to what else he had learned recently. Ventus. It was almost unbelievable that he had an older brother that no one remembered, but Mickey seemed so sure. It was unsettling, learning that nearly every aspect of his life was based on lies. Everything was unraveling so quickly. He was trying to keep it from bothering him, since it was another thing that he couldn't control, but Sora was haunted by the thought that nearly everything he thought was real wasn't.

He heard a soft sound before he felt Kairi slip an arm around his shoulder. She pressed her lips to his cheek before muttering, "What's wrong?"

"I can't sleep," he replied. "It's just…so much has been happening."

Kairi nodded her head and said, "I know it might not really mean much, but I'm with you every step of he way."

Sora looked around at her and said, "It means the world to me."

"Come on," she said, straightening herself up running a hand through his hair. "You need to get some sleep mister."

Sora smiled at her and was about to get up, when an odd feeling passed over him. He looked back around at the window, not seeing anything out of the ordinary, so he turned to the monitors, wincing at the high contrast of the black background and the white text on it.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked him.

"There's a world nearby, and we need to go to it," Sora explained. "There must be someone there…they might have been marked by someone else and not me, or maybe it is someone that I marked. I dunno…" He couldn't see the monitor right though. His vision was blurred from his sore, tired eyes.

Kairi looked at the monitor and said, "Hey, Traverse Town is there."

Sora instantly knew that Traverse Town was the world that they needed to go to. Kairi sat down in the seat beside him as he switched off the autopilot and set the new coordinates for Traverse Town into the navigation, flying the ship manually.

Kairi scanned the empty space in front of them before she asked, "Can I fly?"

"What?"

"Well, I never got to last time," she explained. "And I know that I won't be allowed to come with you everywhere. Going into worlds where we'd change forms is probably dangerous. If you teach me how to fly the gummi ship though, maybe I can do…something."

Sora glanced over at her before smiling slightly and saying, "Yeah, come here." She instantly got up and moved so that she was sitting on him, like a young child might sit on their parents lap while driving a car around an empty field. Sora moved his arms around her and said, "Okay, this control is just basically a cool looking steering wheel, but instead of turning it, you just gently move it to the sides, or up and down. Obviously, if we're in a battle and you want to move quicker, you jerk it hard. Turn it right to go right and left to go left. Unlike a car or boat, you can go up and down too. Same controls. There are buttons on the back of the wheel for the primary guns, just within range of your fingers but out of the way so you don't hit them by accident. That way you can still keep your hands on the wheel and fire at the same time. Here." He took her hands and moved them onto the wheel, moving her fingers just slightly so that she could feel the buttons but not press them. "Got it?"

"Yeah. I know those ones are for the navigation system," she motioned to the monitor. "Those ones are things like sonar and radar. Ummm…those things there monitor things like inner air quality, cabin pressure and oxygen levels."

"Right," he nodded with a yawn. "And, you see that switch right beside you? It lets you do barrel rolls with the wheel. It's locked now so you don't do one unintentionally, but when you unlock it using that switch, you can spin the wheel clockwise or counterclockwise and the ship will roll that way. It helps if there are other people here to help with everything, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Luckily you can spin and steer at the same time, though it can make you feel pretty sick."

"So, if there's no enemies or anything, it's basically like steering the boats back home?" While Kairi never driven a car (at least, that's the story she was telling Sora), she had driven a motorboat with a fair amount of success. She was sure that, as long as it was nothing too complicated, she could fly the gummi ship without much problem.

"Yeah," Sora said with a nod. "Just keep an eye on the navigation so you know you're going the right way. The path is marked out."

She nodded her head before saying, "I know you're restless, but how about you move onto that chair and try to get some sleep? I can get us to Traverse Town."

Sora yawned again before asking, "You sure?"

"You're right here if I need you." She stood up so that he could get out from underneath her. Sora moved over to the other chair, hitting a button on the bottom of it, causing it to recline. He looked over at Kairi, who smiled back. He gazed at her adoringly, feeling sleep pressing down on him. He welcomed it though, and decided not to question why he felt like he could suddenly fall asleep again. He let his breathing slow and his eyes slip shut as blissful sleep overtook him.

She was glad that he finally managed to get to sleep. She took the blanket that she was wrapped around her shoulders, and quickly tossed it over his body before going back to the controls. Kairi slept a lot during the day, so now she was only just feeling a little bit tired. She knew where the autopilot was if she became too exhausted, but for now, she was good.

Kairi got used to the controls of the gummi ship quickly, because there was very little flying or steering that she had to do at the moment, though she was aware that she needed to keep an eye on all the systems to make sure they didn't hit an asteroid or something like that.

Sora mumbled a bit in his sleep, but he seemed relatively peaceful. She was glad, because he deserved a good rest.

She looked away from him to the window when she realized that he never told her how to get the gummi ship out of it's warp drive, how to stop it in general, and how to put it in orbit around the world.

Kairi decided to wait until they were closer to Traverse Town to wake him up and ask, because he deserved all the sleep he could get.

**VVVVVV**

It was early in the morning, probably about six o'clock, and Kairi wasn't tired at all. In fact, she felt a little restless. Maybe it was just because Sora was snoring, something he rarely ever did, but who knew?

She was startled when Riku ended up stumbling into the room, his hair a mess and his expression annoyed. She tilted her head towards him, and his expression shifted into one of confusion when he took in the fact that she was sitting in front of the wheel and Sora was sprawled out on another chair, still asleep.

"Have you been flying?" Riku asked her.

Kairi grinned proudly and said, "Yup! Sora decided to go to Traverse Town last night. He was really tired but couldn't sleep well. I took over and he fell asleep there."

"So, you were flying this thing, while we were all asleep, without knowing how?"

She made a face at him and said, "Sora told me the important controls, and there was nothing big that I needed to avoid or fight."

Riku continued to stare at her before asking, "You never told Sora about how you pretty much crashed three cars, did you?"

Kairi grinned at Riku and said, "No I didn't, and if you do you'll find yourself suddenly missing two friends that make you a man."

"Clear and concise message received. Still, I'm never going to sleep again if I know you're flying."

"I can drive a motorboat!" she argued.

"When you're in the middle of the ocean with nothing around to hit."

"You—shush, Sora's sleeping," she scolded as if talking to a naughty child. "We're all still alive now."

"By sheer dumb luck. Should have known that the reason you called me after all those times was because you didn't want him to know."

"You haven't had your coffee this morning, have you?" Kairi asked him quickly. "You're cranky when you don't."

"There is no coffee," he said, his voice conveying how bitterly he took this fact. "None. I'd even settle for crappy tea, but there's none of that! Not even iced tea! Wanna know where there is a lot of though?"

"Freezer dried things?"

"Well…yes, but not what I was referring to. Ice cream. There is a lot of ice cream."

Kairi beamed broadly and said, "Maybe there's coffee flavoured ice cream?"

"Maybe you should start craving coffee so there's always some of it," Riku suggested as he took a seat in the other empty chair. "Even imply that you want it, and Sora will be all over getting it. Then I can have my coffee."

Kairi giggled at him and said, "I don't drink coffee. It's better that way anyway. Too much can hurt the baby." She was bluntly ignoring the fact that too much sugar could hurt the baby as well, at least to his face.

Riku shrugged a bit before looking out the window. "So, Sora thinks there's someone down there?"

"Yeah. What do you think?"

He frowned and said, "Entirely possible. It could be someone we know, or someone we've never met. Traverse Town is a special world. When other worlds are destroyed, many of those who survive, and are stronger than those that turn into summoning charms, most seem to end up there. Sora did."

"I remember that. Remember, my heart was in his."

Riku nodded and hesitantly said, "You ended up there too."

"I did?"

"Yeah, but I saw Sora, and I got jealous. At the time, we were still fighting over you, and I guess I always knew that you'd pick Sora." He saw her about to interrupt and said, "Don't worry, I'm over it. I was jealous, so I took you away so that he wouldn't find you. One of the biggest mistakes I ever made, now that I think about it."

Kairi didn't say anything, turning back to the window and asking, "So, whoever is there might be from a destroyed world?"

"I think the vast majority of people there are those that come from destroyed worlds," he said honestly. "That's why most of it seems to be hotels and shops. Nobody wants to stay for long."

Kairi nodded and got up, stretching and saying, "I'm going to get a shower."

"Need to be pretty in case it's a hot guy?"

She looked at him and said, "Are you saying I'm not pretty all the time?"

"What? No! Of course not!"

"So, you're attracted to me then?"

"No!"

"Why not? Am I ugly?"

Riku opened and closed his mouth, not quite sure how to answer. He stared at her before saying, "There's no way I can answer this, is there?"

She laughed and said, "Let Sora sleep for a little while longer, okay? I want to surprise him when he wakes up because I figured out how to stop the ship on my own." She turned and took a few steps, turning around and looking at him with a glare. "I mean it. If you wake him up, I'll—do something bad!" Kairi turned and left.

Horror appeared on Riku's face as he came to a realization. "Oh god, she didn't even know how to stop this thing. Sheer dumb luck is looking out for us." He looked at Sora, and he came to an even more startling realization. "I'm as whipped as her friend as you are as her boyfriend."

**VVVVVV**

Roxas had never been to Traverse Town, and the old buildings fascinated him. In Twilight Town, everything was made from brick, much like this place, but Twilight Town was bright and warm with oranges, yellows and browns. It was also much more modern. Traverse Town was almost the opposite, looking much more older and traditional, made from stones and wood, the sky always glittering with the stars in the night sky.

Another thing he found fascinating was that there were very few people there. There were a few people sitting at a tavern of some sort, and a few Moogles mulling around, but it was generally pretty quiet.

"So, who are we looking for?" Roxas asked Sora curiously.

The brunet sent his twin an odd look and said, "I don't know. I'm not psychic."

"Well, you knew that they were here."

"Yeah, but that's it. Don't you think I would have mentioned if I knew anything about them earlier?" Sora pointed out.

"Considering you were half asleep—"

"Stop it guys," Naminé cut in quickly. "Maybe we should just ask those people if they've seen anything odd."

"Sounds like a plan," Midori agreed with a nod.

The group of six made their way over to the outdoor tables around a small tavern, and a young woman cleaning the tables looked up at them. She took each of their features in before she said, "Well, I'll be, I haven't seen you here in quite some time, little Keyblade Bearer. My, someone has certainly grown up."

Riku snickered at this and Sora blushed a bit.

"It's been a while," Kairi said quickly, her voice sounding a little cold, much to Sora's confusion. "We were wondering, has anyone noticed anything…odd around here lately?"

The woman didn't appear to notice how coldly Kairi was acting towards her. She instantly let out a dramatic gasp and said, "Oh yes. There have been these strange things appearing for a while. They've been tracking that poor girl that appeared here a few weeks ago." She leaned in to whisper conspiratorially, showing off way more cleavage than any of the girls wanted to see. "Apparently her world was destroyed, but she was so distraught that she doesn't talk about it often. Pretty thing too."

They all glanced around at each other excited. A girl who just appeared and who was being tracked by some strange creatures sounded exactly like what they were looking for.

"What does she look like?" Roxas asked curiously.

"Well, she's a fair girl, but she's a little taller than all you sprouts," she said while motioning to Midori, Naminé and Kairi, none of whom were particularly tall. "Though she does have a bit more colour than you, sweetie." She nodded at Kairi, whose fists clenched and her face twisted into an angry look. "Prettiest thing I've seen in a while. She's got long brown hair and these stunning purple eyes. I ain't never seen eyes like that before. Tell me, you three have girlfriends?"

"No," Riku answered.

Before either Sora or Roxas could answer though, Kairi looped her arm through Sora's, and Naminé grasped Roxas' hand. Both young women stared at the barmaid/waitress with identical glares.

The woman ignored their looks completely, laughing and saying, "Well, you best be holding on to them. This one's a looker and could probably steal any one of ya." She looked at Kairi again, what was probably supposed to be concern appearing on her face. "You're a little on the heavy side, darling. And pale, like I said before. Are you alright? I can't help with the tan, but you be sure to come here to eat because I can get ya some recipes that will slim ya down in no time. I'm sure Keyblade Bearer here would agree that men like healthy, skinny woman."

Kairi looked horrified at her words, and now it was Sora's turn to glare at the woman, stepping just slightly in front of the redhead.

"Where is this girl?" Midori interrupted, her eyes narrowed and her teeth clenched. She was desperately trying not to snap back at the woman.

"Oh, in the second district but—"

"Thank you," Naminé said quickly, and started literally dragging Roxas away. Kairi started pulling Sora, and Riku followed Midori after she glared at him.

"What?" Roxas asked them, once they were away from the woman.

"What a whore!" Kairi said shrilly. She let go of Sora's hands and crossed them in front of her self-consciously.

"She didn't seem that bad," Riku said to her.

"Of course you wouldn't think so!" the redhead snapped. "You probably barely heard what she said since her boobs were basically falling out of her shirt!"

"I agree," Naminé said, nodding her head. "And all she did was mock us!"

"Why do people always pick on me?" Kairi muttered. "I mean, I know I deserve it sometimes, but Naminé's just as pale as me!"

"Yeah, but your skin stands out against your hair," Roxas pointed out.

"So she was telling the truth?" Kairi was horrified. "I'm a pale, fat kid? Oh my god. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Kairi," Sora said, grabbing her hands. "Ignore the whore. You are not fat. Not in the least. She was just a top heavy, otherwise anorexic bimbo. Don't listen to her, okay. You're fine the way you are." She continued staring down at her feet. "Okay?"

Kairi looked up at him and nodded silently. He sighed, squeezed her hand tightly and looked at everyone else. "We're looking for a tall girl with brown hair and purple eyes, okay? Shouldn't be that hard to find."

All three girls were silent for a moment before nodding. Still, all of them had to wonder if this girl was as pretty as the waitress made her out to be.

While the first district was fairly quiet, there was still the faint hum of people milling about. The second district was silent like a graveyard at night. There wasn't even the slight sound of electricity that so many people were used to hearing, even without realizing it. Being in complete silence was almost maddening.

"Where is everyone?" Naminé asked.

"I dunno. I thought most of the hotels were in this district, weren't they?" Roxas directed this question at his twin.

Sora nodded. "Yeah. Something doesn't feel right."

As if by instinct, the six of them moved into a circle and looked around so that their backs were to one another so that nothing would surprise them.

Sora saw a shadow move quickly and summoned his Keyblade for what felt like the first time in ages. The Saviour Keyblade appeared in his hand and he moved slightly in front of Kairi, his eyes focusing on where he saw the movement.

A shiver went up and down his spine, as if something was staring at him with pure, utter hate. He glanced around the area, trying to spot more movement, but everything was still again, and whatever he saw was gone.

Or so Sora thought, until he saw a footprint appear in the dirt only a few feet away from them.

Instinct drove him as he thrust his Keyblade in the air and yelled, "Reflect!" Something crashed into the barrier that appeared around them, causing the invisible shield to flash with light and a loud bang to echo around them as whatever it was rebounded off of it. "They're invisible!"

"What do we do then?" Midori asked, brown eyes moving wildly in front of her as if trying to see an enemy that she clearly couldn't. "Keep throwing up shields until they get tired and go?"

None of them were exactly sure what was going on, but they needed to make a plan, and quick. Naminé, being the most powerful magic user of the group, threw up a new shield around them, keeping it powered with more ease than Sora could.

"Any type of Heartless that can become invisible gives off some type of warning, or signals just before it attacks. Eyes lighting up, or anything like that." Roxas said, his eyes darting around.

"That's true, but only if it's using magic," Riku said to the blond boy. "They only seem to be physically attacking."

"There's more than one," Kairi added. "They hit more than one spot at the same time. We have to make them visible. Somehow."

"I have an idea!" Naminé cried out suddenly, causing all of them to jerk with surprise. "We need to—" Her moment of lost concentration allowed the invisible attackers to shatter the shield around them. Naminé let out a scream as something hit her hard, throwing her into Riku, and both of them tumbled to the ground, her head hitting the cement hard.

"Naminé!" Roxas cried out, trying to rush over to her, but something blocked him. He growled angrily, his eyes flickering to his girlfriend, who groaned and pushed herself off of the ground, still conscious. "Get out of my way!" He slashed at whatever it was, and his Keyblade hit the target, he could feel that (and it's yell of pain told him that too), but it lunged out at him, knocking him onto his back.

Kairi let out a surprised scream as one of them grabbed her arm holding her Keyblade, and she was yanked into the air. Sora instantly leapt after her, Saviour making contact with whatever it was, causing it to drop the redhead.

"Water!" Midori cried out in a vain attempt to see them. Not a droplet of water seemed to stick to their attackers though. She was tossed backwards by an annoyed creature, but Sora and Kairi managed to grab a hold of her.

"What do we do?" Riku called out from where he knelt beside Naminé, who was holding her head in pain. "We can't see any of them!"

"Wind!"

They all jerked around at the unfamiliar female voice, but none of them had the chance to see who it was as the wind picked up around them, tossing the dirt into the air. It stuck to the creatures around them thanks to the water that they had been doused in, and their humanoid figures became partially visible.

One moved towards Riku and Naminé threateningly, and Riku tried to move away while dragging his friend, but a sharp pain in his leg caused him to fall over, just as the creature was lifting it's suddenly visible, long claws into the air to strike.

The blow never came though.

A tall girl suddenly seemed to appear out of nowhere, jumping in between the creature and the Keyblade Bearers. With a jerk of her arm, a Keyblade materialized in her hand. She held it into the air and yelled, "Light!" Columns of light shot out from her weapon, crashing into all the creatures, which yelled in pain, and seemed to run away.

There was a pause before Roxas rushed over to Naminé and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I've been better," she replied honestly, glancing over at their saviour. "Thank yo—"

The young woman whipped around, her chocolate brown hair flying in her face for a moment as her rich, purple eyes bore into all of them. She glanced at all of them in turn until her eyes rested on Riku and she stared at him.

All of them could easily see what the waitress was talking about when she was describing the young woman in front of them. Her brown hair was straight and went half way down her back, though the front was layered and her bangs were swept to the left. She wore a very short blue skirt with black shorts underneath, a pair of black boots, thick, dark red armbands, and a dark red halter top with only thin straps going around her neck and exposing a bit of her flat stomach, a longer, lighter red fabric on top of it. Her curves were even more defined than Kairi's, and none of them could say that, physically, she had any sort of flaw.

Sora cleared his throat and said, "Hi I'm—"

"Stupid," she said clearly, her eyes narrowing as she looked away from Riku. "Running into a place and getting in a fight with Invisible Endless? Are you all mentally challenged?"

Kairi frowned at this, and Midori took a step forward. "Calm down. We're here to find you. At least, I think."

"You don't even know who I am."

"You're a Keyblade Bearer," Sora answered. "How long have you had it?" He glanced over the girl's shoulder and saw that Roxas picked Naminé up. He nodded towards the doors, signifying that he was leaving, before racing out with her, eager to make sure that she was okay. Riku managed to pick himself off of the ground, though he was leaning against the wall.

The girl's glare faltered before she said, "Got it as my world was falling. The Endless did it."

"No way!" They all glanced around at Riku, who was staring at her Keyblade with wide eyes. He held out his hand, and Way to Dawn appeared and suddenly, they could all see why.

Their Keyblades were almost exact opposites. Where Riku's resembled a bat wing with an angel wing on it, hers had an angel wing with a bat wing at the end. Like Riku's hers was coloured almost the same, though still exactly the opposite. Even the keychain at the end was similar, but where his was a Heartless symbol, hers was an inverted Heartless symbol with blue instead of red.

"Who are you?" Riku asked her quickly.

"Emiliana," she answered after a moment.

"I'm Riku. The two that left are Roxas and Naminé. This is Sora, Kairi, and Midori." Her purple eyes snapped to the eldest of them, smirking slightly, but she didn't stay anything.

"We're trying to find the Keyblade Bearers, because something bad is happening in the worlds. We're trying to find them to train them, so that they'll be ready if the enemy does come after them," Sora explained.

"What kind of enemy?" she asked suspiciously.

"Endless," Kairi answered.

Emiliana gave Kairi a clear look of distaste before she said, "So you want to help train Keyblade Bearers to fight better? I'm in. They destroyed my world, and I want to get back at them."

"What's your Keyblade? Riku asked, still surprised to see it.

She smirked a bit and said, "The Way to Dusk."

**VVVVVV**

Author's Note

What the hell story? You are a rewrite, stop stumping me! Seriously, the chapter for Mulan's world is like 20 pages long, and then the chapter in Olympus suddenly has to be two chapters because I was only half way done and it was at 20 pages.

Yes, that's why updates are coming slowing. I type a few chapters in advance, bt at the same time, that means I don't always have time to go back and edit other chapters right away, because school work is my priority. See, I have to stay several chapters ahead, because if I don't and I get stumped, I have a habit of just abandoning stories. Or at least I did in my Harry Potter days. I'm actually thinking of posting a few Harry Potter fics sometime. I have a one-shot written, but I need to fix it up some.

For all those who read the original, who forgot about Miss Emiliana?

From the last chapter, I feel like I should address something. Kairi's parents didn't actually engage her to the old guy. They engaged her to the Duke of Boronia, or whatever I said it was last time. It was all about a connection to the place itself, not about who the Duke was. A background story is that the Duke had a son just a little older than Kairi but he and the Duchess were killed when Radiant Garden fell. Kairi's parents assumed that this boy would be Duke by the time Kairi was 16. He died, and his father was still the Duke, so the marriage contract went to him. I didn't think anyone would really say anything about the whole 'old guy' thing because it's been done before, and because it's historically accurate, so I didn't bother putting the background story in.

That, and none of the characters would have known that. Good author's always know what's going on in their worlds though, even if it's not important to the story itself.

If you read the discussion fast, they were fast. If you took into account that I don't want to write a whole bunch of pauses and stuttering, and you read it out loud, trying to be slow and calm so the stories came out clearly the first time, it's not quite as slow as you think.

Plus, it'd be exhausting for Mickey to go over everything in detail. Try to remember, in detail, things that happened to you ten years ago. Most stories that you'll tell will basically be skimming everything over. He's the ONLY one who really remembers. For now.

Thank you to all my awesome reviewers! This includes Twilight Cardmistress, xNINJABLADE45x, Eddie Camp, Q-A the Authoress, SilverPaopu, Atem's Sister Atea, EvilxLilyxNinja, Shifuni, the 666th necrophiliac, and wolvenlegend!

The next chapter is actually a pretty long one. I have a thousand assigns and a midterm this week though, so it probably won't be up until next weekend at the earliest.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	18. Lesson Number One

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Seventeen – Lesson Number One_

A black puddle slowly slipped across the green grass like a rushing oil spill. It came to a complete stop for a moment and then splitting in two and morphing into almost rubber-like creatures with glowing eyes. They each looked down a path before quickly turning into a more liquid-like substance and rushing down separate ways.

They had no interest with the Emperor's daughters, nor the Emperor himself. They weren't there to take over the world or cause mass mayhem, though they certainly planned on doing the latter. No, their Master gave them a very specific mission: locate and destroy the Keyblade Bearer.

The means of doing so, however, were up to them.

**VVVVVVV**

"Is Naminé okay?"

Roxas looked up at Kairi, who stared back at him with worried eyes. He understood why tough, because they all knew enough about head injuries to know that a person should not fall asleep after hitting their head. Given that Naminé was asleep on her bed, he wasn't surprised that Kairi was nervous about it.

He smiled at her and said, "I healed her, and checked for a concussion. She wasn't tired at the time, but everything just caught up with her eventually."

Kairi couldn't help but notice that his smile was strained though. She sat beside him, on the floor, and tilted her head curiously at him. There was silence for a moment before Roxas finally snapped.

"Are we completely stupid?" Roxas blurted out. "We're a bunch of teenagers, running around saving the worlds, get married, having kids, becoming kings and queens…what the hell are we doing? Maybe the whole saving the world thing isn't the biggest issue, we've done it before, but seriously, what the flying-fucking-hell? Sora always had Donald or Goofy around to help him in medical emergencies, I know we don't always see them as adults, but they technically are, but—what happens if one of us is really hurt and we don't know how to heal it? What happens if you get hurt and it's a matter of a few seconds that makes the difference for you and the baby? Don't you need to go to regular checkups or something like that? We should have—I don't know…brought a doctor or something with us? Or you know, someone who has some strong healing abilities at least?" Roxas chuckled bitterly and added, "And we've only got one person so far. Who knows how many more are out there? And now we have enemies that are completely invisible?"

Kairi stared at him unwaveringly as he ranted. She sighed and said, "We probably should have brought along some sort of healer, but going back would waste time. Maybe if we get close to Twilight's Destiny again we can get Donald to come with us. Sora said that he's mostly a magician, but he's a pretty good healer when he needs to be. Maybe we can ask Mickey if he knows anyone who would come with us, or, for all we know, one of the Keyblade Bearers might specialize in healing spells."

"You're being awfully calm and rational about this," Roxas noted. "Especially since you, above the rest of us, need to see a doctor frequently."

"People had perfectly healthy babies before there was technology," Kairi pointed out. "Going just gives a heads up to a problem."

"Yeah, and we definitely don't live in a constantly stress filled environment that could cause a problem," Roxas replied sarcastically.

Kairi gave him a soft slap on the head and said, "I came to see if my cousin was okay, not to hear your smart-ass comments."

"Did that girl come back with you guys?" Roxas asked her, quickly changing the subject.

"Emiliana? Yeah. She made a big deal about helping Riku back to the ship," Kairi frowned and crossed her arms in front of her.

"And?"

"And?" she repeated.

He rolled his eyes and said, "I doubt you'd seem this…well not angry, but annoyed, if she just wanted to get closer to Riku."

Kairi was silent for a moment before spitting out, "She was making—making _eyes_ at Sora."

Roxas couldn't help but laugh out loud at her. She glared at him and he said, "Sorry, it's just…funny. Girl's probably a flirt Kai, we're just going to have to deal with it."

"Not what I wanted to hear!" she said while waving her arms around, jumping to her feet, and leaving the room.

**VVVVVVV**

"Wow, this room is…horrible."

Sora raised an eyebrow at Emiliana as she took in the room below deck, where there were cots (rather comfortable ones at that) spread out with curtains that could be pulled around them for privacy. All in all, it wasn't the best sleeping situation, but it could have been worse.

"It's all we've got," Sora said with a shrug. "There are only three rooms, and they're already divided up. You won't be here for long, Land of Dragons is pretty close to Traverse Town. For now though, this is all yours."

She pursed her lips and said, "Horrible planning. I guess I can choose the best one. Hey, how about—"

"Sora!"

They both looked around as Kairi came down the stairs and through the door. She moved close to Sora's side, shooting Emiliana a suspicious look before saying, "Midori's ready to take off."

"Okay," he replied with a smile, catching the look.

Emiliana caught sight of Kairi's ring and asked, "Aren't you a little young to be getting married?"

Kairi shrugged and said, "At home it's pretty common for people to get engaged a year or two after high school."

The ship gave a sudden lurch as it started moving again, and Kairi stumbled a bit, her cheeks going pale as she groaned, leaning on Sora.

"You okay?"

"Just feel a bit nauseous. I don't think I'm going to actually throw up though," she admitted.

"Come on, maybe you should lay down for a bit. It's been a more eventful day than we've had in a while."

"I guess," she agreed and the two walked up the stairs.

Emiliana watched them go with a calculating look as she muttered, "Interesting…"

**VVVVVVV**

The reflective surfaces of the stones, carved with Chinese characters, reflected the soft blue glow of the ancestors as they floated above the ground. There were not peaceful expressions on their transparent faces, not when there should have been. Their descendant saved all of Land of Dragons! It was something to celebrate!

The problem was that their descendant saved all of Land of Dragons. Well, maybe that wasn't the real problem. It was a confusing situation.

"I think I'd like to visit my beloved pedestal!"

Or maybe not.

The First Ancestor groaned as he stared at the tiny red dragon. Really, such a small thing should not have been able to make as much of a fuss as he did. The First Ancestor watched as several other spirits formed a staircase up towards the dragon's pedestal, and the dragon, Mushu, demanded a robe of honour be put on him.

Mushu was the guardian (though, not by their choice) that helped young Fa Mulan on her quest. Originally, the ancestors wanted to send the Great Stone Dragon to bring her home when she impersonated a man in the army, but instead, unbeknownst to them, Mushu went and encouraged her into the army, and eventually, to glory. It was true, he did deserve some credit, but this was a little too much.

The First Ancestor glanced at the spirit beside him and said, "Mulan saves Land of Dragons one time, with some help from those foreigners, and he thinks he's the Emperor."

Mushu splashed around in the small bathtub that was made for him, the spirits using bamboo straws to blow in the water and make it bubble, like a small child might do to their milk, creating a make-shift jacuzzi. The little dragon looked around and exclaimed (quite loudly), "I'm not leaving my pedestal for the next thousand years!"

The First Ancestor visibly groaned. Though others usually came to the family temple, and the ancestors, for guidance and help, The First Ancestor couldn't help but wish and pray for something to happen that would bring the small dragon down off of the high horse that he had climbed on to.

What he didn't know was that his wish would be granted, but not in the way he desired.

**VVVVVVV**

Midori glanced up as she heard someone enter the bridge. She looked around the seat, not the least bit worried about hitting something (it was a pretty good autopilot, not to mention there seemed to be absolutely nothing in space at the moment). She raised an eyebrow when she saw Naminé come into the room and flop onto the seat beside her.

"You feeling okay?" the raven-haired woman asked curiously.

"Yeah. Healing magic works wonders for small things. Roxas was snoring though, because he fell asleep on our room's floor."

"I know. That's why I'm here. I was supposed to wake Roxas up, but decided not to."

"You could have woke up Riku."

Midori made a face and said, "I think he's talking to that new girl. Emily or Leanne or whatever it is."

"Emiliana?"

"Yeah, that one."

Naminé giggled and said, "Don't be jealous—"

"I'm not!"

"—she's just something new and shiny. He'll remember how much he likes classics pretty soon."

Midori shook her head. "I don't like her."

"That's 'cause you're jealous."

"I am not!"

Naminé grinned a bit and said, "Sure, and Kairi's an innocent virgin."

"Well, looks like there's some sort of child of a God or something coming then."

The blonde couldn't help but laugh a bit and said, "You amuse me, Midi. I'm not sure who's more stubborn, you or Riku."

An annoyed sound escaped Midori before she turned to the window, glaring out at the vast, empty space in front of her. She couldn't help but get on last quip in though. "Don't you have a wedding to plan, or something to do instead of bother me?"

Naminé's eyes widened and she jerked up a bit. "I completely forgot! I really DO have to do that if I want it my way. Otherwise those old, creepy guys will do what they want and…"

Midori groaned and wondered why she thought turning the conversation to that topic was a good idea. Naminé didn't seem tired at all, so it was going to be a long night.

**VVVVVVV**

The sun just barely rose into the sky, and already, the very traditional-looking home of the Fa family was alive with activity. A middle-aged woman walked back and fourth, a worried expression on her face as she fiddled with her hands. Kneeling on the floor of the sparsely decorated room, her husband quietly drank his steaming tea. At the table, which was low on the ground, an old woman with pure white hair seemed to be doing something with a chart, muttering to herself as she did. "According to this chart, I put these coins here…"

The middle-aged woman let out an exasperated sound as she continued to pace, ignoring her mother ramblings. The old woman looked at her, and said, "Relax! The spirits tell me that Shang will arrive to propose to Mulan before the sun sets." She motioned to whatever it was she had in front of her. "There's still time to get in on the pool."

"Mother!" the woman, Fa Li, cried out indignantly at her mother.

"Nobody wins with gambling," her husband, Fa Zhou said, placing a hand on her should and motioning for her to look outside. She felt his hand shift a bit, but she didn't see him hand her mother some coins, silently placing his own bet.

All of the Fa family was eager for the young man, Li Shang, to propose to Fa Mulan. They all thought that she would never find a suitable husband, because she was nothing like most girls with their gentle, elegant movements, calm, more submissive natures, and thick face paint. The matchmaker told her before that she could never be a bride, and maybe she was right. The stubborn, young woman probably wouldn't have found what she was looking for if she hadn't impersonated an imperial soldier. Now they just needed him to actually propose, before Mulan did something else untraditional like propose herself. None of them would put it past her.

Suddenly, a little girl rushed over to the opened door that led to their backyard. Fa Li smiled down at her and said, "Hello Sha-Ron."

"Is Fa Mulan here?" Sha-Ron asked, practically vibrating on the spot with excitement.

Fa Li laughed and said, "She is out doing her chores."

"Oh! I'll go help!" Sha-Ron quickly ran away from the door.

Fa Li smiled at the retreating girl. "All the children love Mulan."

"And why not?" Grandmother Fa asked, looking at her daughter with knowing eyes. "She's strong, she's brave, she's beautiful…" The woman paused for a moment, before an expression that could only be described as a perfect visual expression of an epiphany appeared on her face. "…She's a chip off the old block!"

Fa Li and Fa Zhou just shook their heads at the old lady, returning to their morning activities.

**VVVVVVV**

It took Riku a while to become so open with his friends again when they first returned home after defeating Xemnas. He blamed himself for much of the mess, and though Sora and Kairi wouldn't hear anything about it, he still isolated himself from them a bit. They tried to work hard to make him open up again, but when he finally did, he realized that he wasn't the only one struggling to fit into a normal life again. He honestly didn't notice Sora's slow withdrawal from him and Kairi, hell, he didn't even notice that the brunet slacked off in school when he used to be a goody-two-shoes, a class-clown at most. Because of this, Kairi was angrier and moodier than he remembered her.

Still, time passed, and this time around, after defeating Crysita, none of them retreated into their minds. The six of them, Sora, Kairi, Riku, Roxas, Naminé and Midori, stuck together to work out their problems and issues. Overtime, Riku realized that he was actually turning back into a person who was very open with his friends, but instead of being a cocky boss, he was more of a strange combination of the strong and silent one, and the jokester to his friends. Still, as much as he was willing to joke around and hang out with his friends, there were times when he just liked being on his own, or at least in a smaller group.

Now, standing in the bridge of the gummi ship, even with only one other person, he felt a little crowded. He knew that more people were going to join them, and he wasn't looking forward to it. At least not the travel situation. Maybe they could get a larger gummi ship. It might take more time for them to get from one place to another, but he thought it'd be worth it.

He silently stood by the door, his back leaning against the wall as he observed everyone else.

First, he looked at (surprisingly) Roxas. Out of everyone, he was the one that Riku got along with least. They could seem like best friends at times (usually when it involved ganging up on Sora), and the vast majority of the time they were friends, though they didn't often talk directly to one another. The times they did, it tended to be sarcastic quips, or (when the situation called for it) cold insults. There was always that part of Roxas that would always resent Riku and vice versa. Still, Riku had to be a bit surprised with the serious look that was on the blond's face. Something happened the night before. Maybe it was already because three of them were badly injured so far, and they all knew that their adventure had just barely begun. Roxas was acting more like he did when he was a Nobody without memories: serious and a little withdrawn.

Riku's eyes slid to Naminé, who seemed to have recovered completely from the incident in Traverse Town. She had her sketchbook out, but she wasn't actually drawing anything. He could see that already. She was writing things down instead, smiling every once and a while. While Naminé had always been one to offer shy smiles and small laughs in the beginning, she was certainly more expressive and opinionated now. Riku enjoyed talking to her, he always had. More so than Kairi, she felt like a sister to him.

There wasn't really much for Riku to think about involving Sora and Kairi. They just had too much going on right now for him to even make an attempt to sort it out. He was sure that they hadn't. Sora was there, silently flying the gummi ship towards Land of Dragons, looking much more serious and stressed than Riku had ever seen him. Kairi was asleep back in their room. For being a couple that had displayed a lot of affection in public, more and more they seemed to only discuss things behind closed doors, and Riku knew it was only discussions. Sora was far too wound up lately for it to be anything else. Still, if anyone could get through all of the trials coming their way, Riku knew it was his oldest friends.

Next, he looked at Midori. She was sitting beside the new girl, listening to her talk about something. Riku didn't need to be a mind-reader to know that she didn't particularly like the new brunette that entered their lives. Not that Midori actually liked very much. She was a pleasant young woman all around, but she was as closed off as Riku was, if not more. Sure, she opened up to their small group, always willing to laugh and joke and help teach them how to cook (since most of them failed miserably at it), but Riku knew that life on the islands wasn't exactly what she wanted. She was a fighter, a warrior, and a traveler. She took a while to respond to change, so it was no surprise that the new girl annoyed her. Riku had to admit, he did like her, but she was always so closed off involving things like real relationships. As far as Riku knew, she would go on a date and not answer the calls if the guys called back. That wasn't what he wanted. Not from her.

Finally, he looked at their newest member, Emiliana. She was more than just pretty. It wouldn't have surprised Riku if she were a model originally. He always deemed Kairi the most attractive girl in their group (even above Midori), but now he couldn't help but find that the brunette had her beat. He didn't know much (or anything) about her, aside from her name and that her Keyblade was the literal opposite of his, but he certainly wanted to know more.

"There it is."

Sora's voice broke Riku's thoughts and the young man looked out the window at the approaching world. Land of Dragons. That was one of the first places he saw Sora again after his younger friend woke up, memories fully restored. It was also one of the first times that he truly admitted (only to himself, of course) that he doubted he'd be able to beat Sora in a sword fight again.

"So, what's the plan? Go down and see if there's anything amiss?" Midori asked him, teasingly.

"Well, whatever works."

Roxas visibly rolled his eyes, obviously not happy with the plan. Riku couldn't really blame him though. They went with that plan last time, and Naminé had been hurt.

"You going to get Kairi?" Naminé asked in a rather distracted voice.

Sora hesitated a bit and reluctantly answered, "Maybe she should stay here."

Naminé shook her head and stood up, holding her sketchpad to the side of her yellow shorts. "She'd come down there and murder you herself. I'll get her. Besides, do you really want her to be on her own? Most miscarriages happen in the first semester."

Sora sighed and said, "Fine, go get her."

Naminé quickly left to get her cousin, and silence settled in the bridge. It was only broken as Emiliana asked, "Wait, Red's pregnant?"

Riku truly pitied his friends, knowing how much they'd have to explain that story over and over again.

**VVVVVVV**

The Emperor had seen many things in his life. He was a wise man, and above all, he knew that, sometimes, the normal and the expected desperately needed to be overlooked for more eccentric answers. There were things that could not be explained, things that defied the norm, and he had seen many examples of it. Simple things, from a woman successfully impersonating a man to become the Saviour of Land of Dragons, to a monstrous dragon rising from them mountains to destroy everything.

This was a little bit different though.

The huge, monstrous creature that was attacking the city was not one of their legendary dragons brought from their eternal sleep. This was a monster that shifted slightly in forms. It was different from those flexible, pale abominations known as Nobodies, and different from the vicious monsters called Heartless.

The Emperor was confident that the magic around the palace would protect him and his family, thoughts of sending his daughters away to be married were pushed far from his mind for the time being. The people, however, were suffering.

He turned to one of his men and said, "You must hurry and contact General Li Shang. It is very important that you inform him of what is happening. He will most likely be at the home of Fa Mulan. If possible, summon her as well. This beast must be stopped."

The man bowed and went to leave, when another man quickly rushed in. He was wounded badly, dent marks that looked like vicious teeth embedded into his armour. He collapsed to the floor in front of the Emperor and said, "There—is—another—one."

"A second monster?"

"Yes. It—attacked—the—army. Most—are—dead. We—have—failed—you." With that, the man stopped breathing.

The Emperor took a deep breath and said, "Hurry to General Li and Fa Mulan." The man didn't offer any bow or nod, he just hurried on his way. A few others came over to move the fallen soldier, and the Emperor shook his head sadly.

He turned to look over his burning city and said, "Ancestors, I beg of you, save us all."

**VVVVVVV**

Mulan moved both gracefully and aggressively, swinging the rake that she was supposed to be doing her chores with around in swift, powerful motions. A few feet away from her, a tiny, blue cricket named Crickee was pretending to do the same movements while playing with the hyperactive dog that the Fa family owned named Little Brother.

She moved swiftly, jumping and bringing her powerful weapon to the ground. While she always made sure to do her chores and to keep up with family activities, she couldn't help but take time each and every day to practice.

Mulan stopped moving and lowered her rake to her side, holding her hand in front of her. In a flash of orange light, her Hidden Dragon Keyblade appeared in her hand. She stared at the intricate pattern, all in a theme of fire with warm yellows, bright oranges and burning reds. The Keychain was the medallion that the Emperor gave her after saving Land of Dragons. She didn't know why she was chosen to wield such a powerful weapon, and she knew that she had no clear idea as to how powerful it truly was just yet. It was an honour to have such a weapon though, so she practiced every day so that she could say that she was at least semi-worthy of the weapon.

She heard giggling behind her, and Hidden Dragon vanished from her hand. She turned around and saw several little girls staring at her. She stared at them, stunned for a moment, before saying, "Hello. What are you all doing?"

Sha-Ron picked up a stick and said, "We want to be like you, Fa Mulan! Hi-YA!" She swung the stick around with a loud cry, but ended up stumbling to the ground. The rest of the girls burst into laughter, and Mulan hid her small giggle from the rather embarrassed girl.

"I'm still learning myself," Mulan said with a smile. It was true, she accomplished many things, but she still had many more things to learn. The girls all let out disappointed groans, and she chuckled to herself. "Well, okay. I guess I can show you a few moves." They all started cheering madly, jumping around with excitement. "Wow, calm down." Had she been this hyper when she was young? It wouldn't have surprised her. She took any opportunity that she could to be her wild, free self when she was little, since the rest of her time was all about learning how to be a proper lady. Even young girls were expected to act a certain way.

Seeing that the girls were starting to talk about all of the moves that they wanted to learn, she interrupted them. "The second lesson is to learn some moves. There is another lesson you need to learn before that."

"Oh! What is it? What is it?" a little girl named Biyu asked excitedly.

"Stop talking and she might tell us," another girl named Meilin snapped.

Mulan help up her hand, and all of the girls quieted down. "The first lesson, is to be gentle, but though."

They cast each other confused look and one of the older girls, Chao-Xing, asked, "How can you be gentle and tough at the same time"

Sha-Ron nodded her head and said, "Yeah! I want to be though!" She started kicking the air excitedly. The other girls all made sounds of agreement.

"I know it does sound a little fun," Mulan said with a nod, as if answering her own question. "However, the world is full of opposites, and so are you. To be a good warrior, you must first bring them all together."

Sha-Ron, Biyu, Meilin, Chao-Xing and all of the other girls stared at her with confusion.

"Hmm…how do I explain this easier?" she thought for a moment, brows furrowing before she grinned and pointed upwards. They all looked up and she said, "It's like the sky and the earth, day and night, sound and silence."

They all seemed a little confused, so she helped them a little more, trying to explain the concept. It was a little hard to understand, but they were certainly trying. Soon, all the girls were swinging their sticks around, some getting the concept, while others still needed to work no it a bit.

"Look! It's Shang!" Biyu called out. Mulan spun around at this, her dark eyes instantly settling on the tall, dark haired figure. A smile appeared on her face as he approached them, dressed in his new uniform.

"Hello little warriors," he greeted the girls, though Mulan could hear a bit of force to his tone. She knew that he accepted her as a warrior, but it was too ingrained within him, within everyone, for women to just stay at home rather than fight. It was something not even she could change yet.

She approached him and said, "The new uniform suits you, General."

"I just hope I live up to it." His own father had been a General, killed by Shang-Yu's army.

She smiled softly and said, "Of course you will. You are very brave."

"Brave," he repeated with a struggling smile. "Well, yes. Mulan, I haven't known you very long, not as long as some, but I think that it doesn't matter when…" He trailed off, his eyes glancing down to look at the girls, who were staring at him with wide, star-struck eyes. He glanced back at Mulan and asked, "Is there some place private that we can talk?"

"We can go to my house!" Sha-Ron offered excitedly.

Mulan shook her head with amusement. She had a feeling that she knew what Shang wanted, so she shooed the girls away. Sha-Ron looked so disappointed that Shang offered for her to hold his helmet. She screamed with excitement and ran off with it.

"You know you are never going to get that back, right?" she asked him with amusement.

He just shrugged and motioned for her to follow him towards the blooming trees beside the pond in her yard.

**VVVVVVV**

Sora walked with Riku and Roxas, a little in front of the four girls in the group. He rubbed his cheek a bit, still red and sore from where Kairi had smacked him only a few moments before. Apparently, Naminé mentioned that Sora wanted to leave her behind, and she was mad enough to smack him. She tried to apologize almost immediately afterwards, but he just went through the warp system and was now ignoring her.

Everyone else wisely stayed out of it.

"There doesn't seem to be anything wrong here," Midori pointed out as they walked own a long, winding path through miles of open fields.

"There didn't seem to be anything wrong in Traverse Town either," Roxas pointed out. "I'm betting that Xehanort has those creatures out to stop us from getting the other Keyblade Bearers, or to distract us while he does whatever it is he's doing."

"We're almost to Mulan's village, I think," Sora said, pointing at the houses looming in the distance. "I was never actually there, but this is the direction she mentioned, and it looks like she described. If not, we can always ask where to go."

"What are the odds that someone would know where Mulan is?" Naminé asked skeptically.

"She's the saviour of Land of Dragons. People will know where she is." Sora looked back at everyone else, his eyes just barely grazing over Kairi's sad ones. It might have been a bit immature, but he was still angry.

"Why is everyone gathering around that house?" Emiliana asked, pointing a perfectly manicured nail in the direction she was looking. They all followed her gaze, and found themselves looking at a large crowd surrounding a gated house of what must have been a slightly higher class citizen.

"Well, might as well go see," Sora said cheerfully and started walking to the crowd.

"Does he always do this?" Emiliana asked. "Forget missions and just do whatever?"

"Most of the time? Yes," Roxas answered. "Last time we traveled the worlds though, we rarely got to interact with people outside of battle. Most of the time we were too late. I think he missed seeing his friends."

"I'd like to see Mulan again too," Midori added. "Last time we saw her, she was turned into weeds. Or was it ice?" She directed this question at Riku. "We saw so many people cursed by Crysita's group that I can't really remember who was what."

"I don't know, but we should catch up to Sora before he gets lost," Riku said, urging the group after their spiky-haired friend.

**VVVVVVV**

Mushu was beyond happy at that moment. Mulan was getting married! Of course, it was all thanks to him, he was the one who brought them together in the first place. He couldn't wait to rub this in the faces of the ancestors. He teared up just thinking about it. As far as he knew, a wedding was a huge step up for him.

He also had to get on with the wedding plans. Mushu promised Mulan that he'd help (and by help, he meant plan the whole thing) with the wedding. He needed a theme first. Rainbow of Memories? No, that was too junior prom, he decided. Then it came to him. It was brilliant! Think Pink! Why not? Pink is the new red. Now, where was Crickee? He'd need him at the fabric store.

Mushu was suddenly distracted by something very familiar. There was a very distinctive hairstyle heading his way.

He quickly made his way around the people and cried out, "Sora, my man! How's it hanging?"

Sora looked around quizzically before grinning and saying, "Hey Mushu!"

The little red dragon climbed up onto his shoulder and said, "So, what's going on? Sure hope it doesn't involve us turning into fancy statues or something. Really though, bandits? Bad guys? Monsters? Oh, I can't wait and—well hello. Who is the pretty little lady with the red hair? Gotta say, I definitely approve honey."

Sora glanced around and realized that Kairi had come up to his side. She stared at Mushu with fascination, and he realized that they had never met. "Kairi, this is Mushu. He's Mulan's Guardian Spirit. Mushu, this is Kairi. She's my girlfriend."

"Someone grabbed themselves a looker!" Mushu quickly moved so that he was in Sora's hands, but took Kairi's hand into his. "Hello Miss—holy cow that's what I call a rock! This ain't no girlfriend."

Kairi giggled a bit and said, "Well, we're engaged but—"

Mushu suddenly burst into tears. Kairi stared at him oddly and Sora slowly asked, "Are you…crying?"

"No, I got something in my—of course I'm crying! Not only is my Mulan getting married, but now my Sora is too! This is a beautiful day!" 

"Mulan's getting married?"

Mushu climbed up onto Kairi's shoulder and looked at the rest of them. He recognized Riku and Midori, though the two blondes and the brunette were a mystery to him.

"Why do you think all of these people are here? To see the wall of the Fa family's house? Of course my girl's getting married! Hey, I remember you two. Riku and Midori, right?" They both nodded. "Now, who are you?" He looked at Roxas as he said this. "And why do you look like Sora?"

"Cause we're twins?" Roxas said, raising an eyebrow at the lively dragon. "I'm Roxas. This is my girlfriend, Namine. She and Kairi are cousins."

"Girl, good looks run in your family," Mushu said to the blonde before glancing at the last of the group. "Well, hello pretty-lady. What's your name?"

"Emiliana," she said, staring at Mushu as if he was the weirdest thing that she had ever seen.

"Hey Mushu?" Sora called to him. "Have you seen—"

"Sora! Riku! Midori!"

They all looked around and saw Mulan herself coming towards them, a huge grin on her face. She didn't question why they were there at that exact moment. She was just too happy. She hugged Sora tightly. It had been so long since she had last seen him, and she wasn't exactly close to Riku or Midori.

"Sora, it's been so long," Mulan said after she let go of him. Her eyes shifted to the others and she frowned a bit. "Where are Donald and Goofy?"

"They stayed behind," Sora explained. "This is Kairi, Roxas, Naminé and Emiliana. They're all Keyblade Bearers too."

She frowned at this and asked, "Is there a problem with the worlds?"

"Maybe we can talk in another place?" Riku suggested, very aware that there were many people staring at them. A few people probably recognized Sora as the one who helped Mulan defeat Shan-Yu.

Before anyone could reply, the sound of a horse galloping towards them echoed through the air. The rider, a man gasping for breath, came to a stop in front of Mulan, and Shang came over to the group.

"Th—there's been an attack," he said to them. "These two huge monsters. They took the form of the ancient dragons! The Emperor summons the saviour of China and General Li!"

"Where are these monsters?" Shang demanded.

"One is attacking the capital city. The other is drawing closer to the army. It already defeated some."

Shang frowned heavily before saying, "Mulan, head towards the city. I'll warn the army."

"We'll help," Sora quickly volunteered. "Right guys?" Everyone else nodded. "Great, so some of us will go with Shang, and the rest of us will stick with Mulan. Roxas, Naminé, Midori and…Emiliana, go with Shang. Kick the creature's ass. Riku, Kai, we'll go with Mulan."

"So what exactly are we dealing with?" Riku asked.

"A different type of Endless, maybe?" Naminé suggested.

"If not, it's a strange Heartless or Nobody. Be prepared for anything," Sora warned them.

Shang was eager to leave, and the townspeople were kind enough to get horses ready for Roxas, Naminé, Midori and Emiliana. Though there were many complaints coming from both Emiliana and Roxas, the group of five left as quickly as they could.

The rest moved to Mulan's home, as she went to pull her own armour on.

"Kairi," Sora said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You'll be our designated healer, okay? I'm not saying stay completely out of the fight, but if it get bad, or if you even think you might get hurt, get out of the way, okay?" That was the real reason Sora wanted Riku and Kairi to come with him. Mulan did have a Keyblade, but she wasn't nearly as experienced as the rest of them were, and Sora wanted to keep an eye on her. It was a given that he really didn't want Kairi in the fight, but she was stubborn (though he doubted that she'd put herself in any truly unnecessary risky situations), and he wanted her to stay in his sight. Just in case. He and Riku were an amazing fighting team together, so he had no doubt that they could make up for the lack of experience from Mulan and the fact that Kairi couldn't fight like she could before.

Kairi stared at him for a moment before saying, "Okay. I mean, I know I could easily get attacked going back to the warp point on my own, since the capital city is the other way and it's not like I can be dropped off. I'll be careful, and I'll stick to using magic."

Sora forced a smile and was about to turn away from her, but she grabbed his hand and said, "I really am sorry. I just—I'm trying to get a hold of my emotions. I really am. It's just…so hard." For a moment, he expected her to cry again, but she didn't. She just stared at him sadly. "There was no good reason for me to slap you, and I'll never do it again. I'm sorry."

He was still for a moment, before he turned hugged her tightly. "I know."

**VVVVVVV**

"I hate horses," Roxas muttered. "I hate them."

"I don't think they like you much either," Midori said with a shrug.

"I don't mind them all that much," Emiliana supplied. "These ones are a bit dirty though."

"What did you expect? Perfectly groomed stallions?" Midori shot back, causing the brunette to simply raise an eyebrow at her, not the least bit taken back.

"Focus," Shang said to them. "We're approaching the encampment and—" He stopped abruptly as they reached the top of the hill, both in speech and his horse's movement. The only betrayal of shock on his face was the fact that his eyes widened ever so slightly.

Roxas, Naminé, Midori and Emliana quickly caught up, and all of them gasped in shock. If there had been any buildings, they were all destroyed. Only ashes, smoke and fire remained.

"What…what could cause this much devastation?" Naminé asked, her voice faint with shock.

"Humans," Midori said, a bitter tone to her voice. "But I've never seen Heartless or Nobodies work this fast before."

"They don't," Roxas said. "This—this is something else."

The group beneath them suddenly started to rumble, startling the horses. Shang was the only one able to control the beast he was on while the four Keyblade Bearers tumbled to the ground as their horses rushed off.

Roxas fully intended on making some sort of point about how horses were useless, when the ground seemed to explode in front of them, sending the remaining ashes and embers flying into the air as a huge, twisted blob seemed to appear out of nowhere. It let out a loud roar as it shifted shape and turned into a huge dragon.

"I think we found it," Naminé said as her Keyblade instinctively appeared in her hand. The others quickly followed suit, pulling out or summoning their weapons.

The dragon looked in their direction and flew quickly at them.

**VVVVVVV**

"So, I think that may be the city up there."

Riku shot Sora an annoyed look and said, "What was your first clue, all the smoke over there, the fact that we just heard a dragon's roar, or the fact that there are massive walls visible from here?" The roar of the monster startled all of the horses, but everyone was able to calm them down.

Sora glanced over at Riku, opening his mouth to most likely say something sarcastic, but Kairi gave him a gentle whack on the shoulder from where she sat behind him on the horse.

They approached the Imperial City quickly, getting off of the horses and proceeding by foot once they got close enough. Though they heard a roar earlier, there was nothing in sight but pure destruction.

"This is horrible," Mulan whispered, staring at the once mighty city. Even the palace's exterior was ugly and damaged now.

"Yeah, but we seem to be missing something here," Sora said, motioning at the sky. "I didn't see anything fly away on the way here, and it's kind of hard for a dragon to play hide and seek."

"Assuming that it's a big one," Kairi pointed out.

"Look at the damage, Kai," Riku said while shaking his head. "Whatever this was, was big."

"But where is it?" Mulan wondered out loud,

"Hey guys?" Kairi asked slowly, focusing on a spot behind them. "Question. Is the water supposed to be black? And if so, is it supposed to be doing that?"

Sora, Riku and Mulan looked around to where Kairi was pointing, and watched as what looked like a river of black water begin to twist and move towards them. It started splitting into small creatures that resembled a Shadow, but they weren't quite as solid. Sora instantly moved in front of Kairi as the creatures started coming together again, their shape changing, morphing into a massive dragon.

"Well…" Sora trailed off. "If it makes you guys feel better, I've never seen that before either."

The dragon roared before anyone could reply, and a stream of heavy, blue fire was launched from its mouth.

"Reflect!" Kairi cried out as she summoned the Stormfall Keyblade. The fire crashed into the shield, circling around them, before going out.

"It must take on attributes of what it turns into," Mulan said quickly as she summoned her Keyblade, Hidden Dragon.

Sora didn't answer, instead, he summoned the Saviour Keyblade, used a piece of debris as a springboard, and hurled himself at the dragon, aiming for it's chest area. Only for a hole appeared in the dragon's chest.

Baffled and startled at the same time, Sora ended up sailing right through the hole, noting that it closed behind him, and crashed to the ground ungracefully.

"I think we need a better plan," Sora grumbled as he pushed himself up, shaking out his limps.

Riku rushed at the dragon, swiping at it's feet, but again, it was like the feet melted away, so Way to Dawn just met air as he slid to where Sora was.

"Call me crazy, but I don't think that's going to work!" Kairi cried out to them, her voice drowned out as the dragon roared and took off into the sky. It circled them for a moment, before speeding at them quickly.

Kairi and Mulan both threw themselves onto the ground, but Sora and Riku weren't quick enough. Riku let out a grunt as he was thrown backwards, blinking as he watched the dragon fly over him.

"Where'd Sora go?" Mulan asked, causing Kairi to look around wildly. Riku let out a groan and looked up at the dragon. Sure enough, running around on it's back (trying desperately not to fall through the holes that kept appearing), was Sora.

"For the love of—" Riku grumbled, cutting himself off as he prepared to rush back into battle. Mushu, who was silently hiding in Mulan's pack the entire time, decided to pop out at that moment, startling them all.

"Please tell me you saw that?" he asked excitedly. Receiving blank stares, he sighed and said, "Do I have to do everything here? That thing is made up of a bunch of tiny ones. Maybe ya gotta destroy them, not focus ol' big, nasty breath there."

"That's it!" Kairi said excitedly. "Okay, here's what we'll do…"

Meanwhile, Sora scrambled to try and stay on the dragon's back, but from it's twisting flight to the fact that random parts of its body kept vanishing under his feet, it wasn't easy. Up close though, he could still see the small creatures making up the one big one. It wasn't a really creature, just a bunch of tiny ones clumped together.

"Why—won't—you—die?" he growled as he stabbed at the creatures, trying to focus on the individual ones, but his Keyblade didn't do anything to them.

"Thunder!" he yelled, and a powerful blast of lightning crashed down onto the creature's (which he correctly assumed was an Endless) back, and two of the small Endless actually did vanish. The only problem was that Sora used is Thundaga spell, and it only took out two of them.

The Endless let out a roar as it jerked around quickly. Sora looked over to see Riku stabbing at it's face, his Keyblade successfully destroying one of the small Endless while the rest were distracted by the lightning strike.

One of the smaller creatures dislodged itself from the group, jumping at a startled Sora. He let out a yelp as he was tossed off of the wildly flying monster. Luckily, they were closer to the ground, so he just rolled across the ground. Unluckily, he ended up skinning his leg, arm and hands on the ground as he skidded to a stop.

Groaning angrily, Sora looked at his hands and said, "I hate my life sometimes." He had no time to lament on this though, as the Endless roared and dove at him again.

"Hurry Riku!"

Sora barely had time to look up when his tall friend landed beside him, grabbing his arm, and dragging him out of the way.

"Freeze!"

Sora looked behind him and winced as a blast of icy air passed them. The dragon's roar was immediately cut off as it was entirely encased in ice.

Kairi smirked triumphantly, holding her Keyblade in front of her for a second, before she let out a groan and slumped to her knees. She dropped her Keyblade and held her head in her hands.

"Kairi," he gasped out and rushed to her side, ignoring the pain in his body as he knelt down next to her. "Are you okay? Iri?"

She looked up at him, but her gaze was quickly adverted as the ice started to crack. "Oh no."

Mulan and Riku rushed in front of them, Keyblades at the ready.

"Fire!"

"Dark Fire!"

Sora had to cover his eyes as the two powerful attacks crashed into the towering Endless, not melting the ice, but hitting it with enough force to completely destroy all the small Endless.

Silence engulfed them all before Mushu said, "You'd all be lost without me."

Kairi shook her head before summoning her Keyblade again. She put it against Sora's skin and muttered, "Cure."

He instantly felt relief as his torn skin mended itself, the pain gone, but he also felt worry pass through him as she let her weapon go and slumped a bit against him. Before he could ask her if she was alright, Kairi yawned and said, "The Blizzaga spell was the strongest one I've ever used. I'm just tired."

Mulan and Riku helped them stand up and he asked, "Can you walk back?"

She nodded her head but didn't move. "Iri?"

Looking up at him, she said, "I can walk, but can you carry me anyway?"

He rolled his eyes and said, "And you call me the lazy bum."

"You are," she insisted, resting her head on his shoulder. "Wanna know what we should get? A cute, little baby suit from here. One from every place we go to. That way we have a bunch of different styles."

"We just destroyed a monster dragon, and you want to talk about that?" Riku asked her with disbelief as he helped her onto Sora's back so that he could carry her. "I thought Roxas was weird."

"Wait—what's that about a baby?" Mushu asked, his eyes wide with disbelief.

Sora chuckled a bit with discomfort. This was going to be difficult to explain to everyone else that they met on their adventure.

**VVVVVVV**

"…So that's why we need you to come with us," Riku explained to Mulan as their horses (who they found on their trek back) approached Mulan's home.

Mulan nodded her head thoughtfully, but said nothing. They rounded the bend by her house, and her horse, Khan, came to an abrupt stop at her urging. Shang, Roxas, Namine, Midori and Emiliana were already back, and every single one of them was singed and incredibly dirty.

They all got off of the horses, Sora helping Kairi off, though she insisted that she could walk on her own now. They made their way over to their friends and Sora asked, "What happened to you guys?"

"We're never talking about it again. Ever," Roxas said firmly, his eyes looking a bit shifty.

"No, really, what happened?" Kairi repeated, glancing over at the girls of the group.

"No," all three echoed together firmly.

"They are going to be hunting me." All of the Keyblade Bearers looked around to see Mulan standing in front of her family and Shang, her Keyblade in her hand. "They attacked here specifically because of me, and no one else. If I remain here, I have no doubt that they will continue to return."

"Mulan…" her mother started, but was cut off as the young woman kept talking.

"However, with Sora and the others, not only do I have others around for more security, but I will be trained in the ways of the Keyblade as best as I can in a short period of time," she reasoned. "Then, I can return home with the ability to better protect this world. I hope that you can accept that this is something I must go."

Everyone was silently until Shang took a step towards her and said, "I understand. There is no dishonour in leaving to become a better warrior." He paused and took her hand in his. "And I will be waiting here for your return."

"We all will," her mother said, taking a step forward.

"Just be sure to take this lucky cricket with you," grandmother said, handing her Cri-Kee. No one from Mulan's world noticed Mushu peak out of her pack for a moment before hiding himself again.

Mulan hugged her family and said, "I'll come back, I promise."

**VVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

I FINISHED YOU CHAPTER! I HAVE WON! Seriously, started working on this one at the beginning of summer, and I wasn't able to finish it. It wasn't even really exciting, and there was really no reason for it to be this long, but oh well. Once I got working on it, it just turned out like this.

I thought about splitting it into two chapters, but then I realized that it would mess up all of my organized documents (I've started writing several later chapters) so I decided to leave it. Don't expect all chapters to be this massive! Moral of the story: if you don't mind waiting months on end, I can probably write massive chapters like this for every one. Totally don't want to do that though.

I thought about doing the whole Mulan II sort of scheme, but then I remembered that I utterly loathe most Disney sequels. Actually, I'm a lot like the company in that respect. Most Disney Sequels are completely ignored by the theme parks and what the company calls its official canon. Example: Pocahontas II. As far as Disney's concerned, John Smith is who she's with and this other guy never existed.

Also, in Mulan, Shang is seen as this strong character but can be slightly awkward at times. In Mulan II, it's almost like he was made into a stupid, stuttering fool. No. Eff that. That just made the movie worse.

The only child that was actually named in the movie was Sha-Ron, I just didn't want to have to name them 'girl 1', 'other girl', 'different girl', etc…

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Q-A the Authoress, Trainalf, Twilight Cardmistress, wolvenlegend, EvilxLittlexNinja, SilverPaopu, Shire Folk and The 666th necrophiliac.

No Disney World in the next chapter, but something really interesting does happen! And no, it has nothing to do with Sora's spawn. It's more about something else from the past.

And I'm out!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	19. Extreme Encounters

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Eighteen – Extreme Encounters_

Mulan was fascinated with the gummi ship. Never in her young life had she seen something quite like it. Sora was incredibly confused about her reaction, until Midori reminded him that there wasn't much for technology in Land of Dragons.

"It's amazing," Mulan whispered. "To see the stars just streak by. You fly in metal and soft, sponge-like material! I never dreamed that something like this could exist before."

"I've seen a lot of worlds in my time," Mushu said in a nonchalant way, looking at his claws. "All of them even more impressive than this dingy ship. Stick with me girl, and you'll be fine."

Crik-ee made a chirping noise, and Mushu glared at him. "You hush up, this ain't nothing like when I encouraged her to join the army!"

While Mulan was searching through her small new home with wonder, Sora sat up at the controls of the ship. He stared ahead of him, seeing the universe before him, but not really focusing on it. His mind kept going over those dragons that they fought.

He was positive that they were another form of Endless, like the things that attacked them in Disney and Traverse Town. He wasn't sure what they were, or where they came from, but they were dangerous. Kairi had to basically exhaust herself magically in order to freeze it. Not onl that, but if Mulan wasn't so adept with fire magic, and Riku wasn't there to help too, Sora was sure that they wouldn't have succeeded in destroying it.

What truly bothered him though was the fact that his Keyblade had been useless against them. He used the Saviour Keyblade, and it was utterly useless against them, like trying to fend off a shark with a piece of seaweed. Sora was also sure that he saw Riku's Keyblade effectively kill a few of the small Endless.

So why was it that one Keyblade worked and another didn't? Though he was the wielder of the powerful weapon for several years now, Sora really didn't know all that much about the Keyblades. He didn't really know about their origin, though he had a feeling that it had to do with Kingdom Hearts. He didn't know why or how they chose people, or really if there was any powers in them beyond what he knew. Yes, Mickey explained how specific people were marked by their Masters, but that still didn't explain how the ability was inside them in the first place.

When they all got back to Twilight's Destiny, he hoped that he could corner Yen Sid and ask him questions about the Keyblade. There was just so much he didn't understand. He could see now why having a Master would have been a huge help. He may have technically been born a Keyblade Master, but having someone to guide and help him would have been very beneficial in the long run.

"Hey."

Sora started as the voice broke him out of his thoughts. He tilted his head back and looked up at Roxas, who was staring at him with questioning eyes. His brother must have felt his confusion, his frustration, and came to investigate.

Roxas made himself comfortable in the co-pilot's chair, stretching his feet out and putting it on the consol in front of them. Sora just shook his head and stared out at the sky.

"Keep thinking that hard and your brain will burn out," Roxas warned him.

Sora didn't even look at him as he said, "You'd know, right?"

"Thinking about Kairi?"

"No, for once I'm not," the brunet admitted. "Just about the Keyblades and our enemies. My Keyblade wouldn't work on them, but Riku's did."

Roxas frowned at this and said, "That's weird. Ours all worked just fine. Maybe yours is defective or something?"

"That'd suck," was the only honest answer that Sora could articulate.

"Well, there's a lot we really don't know yet. I mean, we don't even know much about who our real family was, what the world we were born in truly is, and we really don't know anything about Ven either."

There was a heavy pause at the mention of their older brother. That was a discussion that they were both avoiding, not even sure how to proceed with talking about their older, deceased brother.

"It doesn't matter," Sora said slowly. "Ven's dead."

"No, just his body died," Roxas pointed out.

"What's your point?"

The blond pointed at himself and said, "My original body died too, remember? Everything that made me, well, me, my heart and soul, went into you. Same with Naminé and Kairi. Technically, when Kairi's heart went into yours for protection, you had yours, mine, hers and Namine's." Sora shot his brother a look that clearly told him to get to his point. "What I'm getting at is, what if Ven's heart is in there too?"

"What?" His visibly startled Sora.

"Well, it's not that far-fetched," Roxas pointed out with a shrug. "The exact same thing happened to me. Plus, I just can't shake the feeling off that maybe, you know, when we were in your heart and saw that…apparition of Ven? What if it wasn't just your heart projecting someone to guide you? What if it was really him?"

Honestly, Sora never really thought about it like that. He hadn't given much thought to seeing Ventus in his heart before. Now that Roxas mentioned it though, it was entirely impossible. There were definitely three other hearts within his own at one point of time. What was a few more?

The important question though was, if Ventus' own heart was truly locked away inside of his, could his older brother come back like Roxas and Naminé did? He didn't really know, because he didn't know what actually happened to Ventus. Roxas and Naminé were never meant to die in the first place, so they were able to come back without causing any sort of negative chain reaction. If Ventus was meant to die though, and they found a way to bring him back anyway, that could throw off nearly everything.

The dead were meant to stay dead, that's something Sora came to accept when thinking about his mother.

As if knowing what Sora was thinking (which he probably did), Roxas looked out of the window thoughtfully and said, "Even if it doesn't seem like it, you do have the power of Kingdom Hearts in you. If anyone can truly bring Ventus back, it's you." There was a pause. "Or an insane wacko who would bring back his physical body in an attempt to create some sort of evil Keyblade wielder, only to find that you have his heart and that would screw him over."

Sora tore his eyes from the window and looked around at his twin as if he was insane. "Do you ever actually listen to yourself?"

Roxas ignored that and said, "Wouldn't matter anyway. You'd still have Ven's heart in you." Now that they actually spoke about it, the idea that Ventus' heart was still hidden deep within Sora's was actually a very comforting one, and he was quick to latch onto it with confidence.

Sora shook his head and looked back out the window, a slight smile on his face. If there was one thing that was almost guaranteed to cheer him up when he was down, it was talking to Roxas, Donald or Goofy.

He really did miss having Donald and Goofy with him on his adventures. He hated leaving them behind, because he knew for a fact that both would be an asset to their little adventure, but he also knew that someone needed to keep an eye on Ienzo and Lea. He'd be sure to let them both know how much he appreciated it when they got back.

Sora glanced at the navigation system as it guided them towards a very familiar world. He was really looking forward to seeing Hercules and Phil again.

**VVVVV**

Kairi was stretched out on her bed, laid out on her side so that she could look over the side. Normally, she would have been much more comfortable by laying on her stomach, stretched out, but she didn't want to put any type of physical pressure on her baby.

In front of her, on the floor, Naminé and Midori sat side by side. Naminé had a laptop opened in front of her, several pictures of wedding dresses on the screen. While she honestly would have preferred to design her own (it was something that she thought about a little bit before all the whole mess with Radiant Garden happened), but time was not on her side. She had to throw together everything quickly if she wanted any say in her own wedding at all.

Kairi was looking over her shoulder and said, "That one's cute."

"I don't like sweetheart necklines," Naminé said quickly.

Kairi rolled her eyes and said, "Of course you don't."

Her blonde cousin shot her a subtle glare and asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying that you're really conservative," she replied with a shrug. "Nothing wrong with it, but it is your wedding dress. It should be beautiful and amazing and it should stand out like nothing else."

"Too bad you can't wear white," Midori quipped playfully at the younger woman.

"Why can't I?" Kairi asked with confusion.

"Oh sweetheart, white represents purity. And not purity of the heart. Junior growing in there kind of proves that you're not pure like the dress represents."

Kairi stared at Midori oddly before saying, "You know an awful lot about wedding traditions for someone who isn't really interested in the whole idea of getting married. I'm still going to wear white though." She fiddled with the engagement ring on her finger. "It's no fair! Sora proposed to me first, and I'm older. I should be getting married first!"

To Midori, it was still a little strange to see girls who were still teenagers talking about getting married. Naminé because necessity, and Kairi just because she wanted to. In her home world, people tended to get married in their late twenties and early thirties, but on Destiny Islands people tended to get married very young, usually within a few years out of high school, and they started families just as young. She found it all very odd, and wasn't sure if she'd ever get used to it.

Naminé shook her head, staring at the laptop again and said, "You know I have to, there's no question about it. I won't even be able to plan it all out myself, just the basics. There are other, more important things."

"What do you get to choose?" Kairi asked her curiously.

"Well, colours, my dress, the design for the bridesmaid dresses, the flowers, the type of cake, the design of the cake, what the tuxes look like—"

"So basically everything that a normal bride does, but long distance," Midori said while shaking her head.

Naminé shrugged and continued to look at the pictures. "I'm going with gold and a deep purple. The flowers I chose are purple carnations with those cute little buttercup flowers for accents unless I find something better. The cake is a white buttermilk cake mostly, but there's also chocolate layers too, cause Roxas prefers that. Tuxes can be done later, but my dress is what's important."

"So…how are you getting all this done again?" Kairi wondered.

"Oh, corresponding with Minnie, Daisy, and a few other people. Everything is coming from Disney, since it's the only world that we can really rely on for that sort of thing right now," Naminé said in a matter of fact way.

"This is why I'm not getting married anytime in the foreseeable future," Midori said while shaking her head. She peered at the screen again and said, "Oh! You should totally get that mermaid-style dress."

Naminé gave her a look that clearly showed how insane she thought the raven-haired woman was. "Why would I do that?"

"So I can watch you struggle to walk in it?"

"That's horrible!" Kairi said with a laugh. "Funny, but horrible. Can we use the same site to pick our dresses to Nami?" Midori opened her mouth to protest and both girls glared at her as the redhead said, "You are wearing a dress. Like it or not. And you're wearing one to my wedding too. Live with it."

"I hate dresses though," Midori grumbled, but the complaint fell on deaf ears.

"I hope I fit into the dress you choose Nami," Kairi said with a bit of a whine to her voice.

"Kai, I have to get married before my birthday. You won't be showing that much," the blonde pointed out.

Kairi looked utterly scandalized and said, "If you wait too long I will. I'm already getting pudgy."

Both young woman squinted at their friend, and while she didn't have a huge, visible pump on her stomach yet, when compared to pictures she was a bit bigger than before. Still, it wasn't like she was actually fat or really 'pudgy' like she said. Both of them actually found it a little annoying just how self-conscious Kairi was becoming ever since she found out that she was pregnant.

Midori looked at Naminé for a second, before turning back to Kairi and saying, "If you're pudgy, then I'm the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man."

"I needed to get a new bra twice now! Twice!" she put her arms over her chest self-consciously. "I haven't needed a new bra size since I was sixteen!"

"That's what—" Midori cut herself off while shaking her head. "You're crazier than a sea monkey collector. I'm sure Sora's not complaining about the fact that you have bigger ho—"

"Midi!" Kairi yelled, her cheeks turning red. "We haven't even had sex since this happened." She motioned to her stomach. "I don't mean discovering it either. I meant making it."

"What? That's so weird for you—"

"Okay!" Naminé said while throwing her hands in the air. "You're helping me, not talking about Kairi's sudden lack of a sex life. My wedding first!"

"Sure thing Bridezilla," the oldest of them said, glancing back at the computer that Naminé had been silently working at while they were talking. "Did you find one?"

"Actually, I think I did." She clicked a minimized window and brought the image up. "I really like this one. See, it has a bateau neckline, sleeveless an empire waist and—"

Kairi glanced at the picture and interrupted by saying, "It's kind of boring Nam."

"Not everyone goes around with as flashy and colourful clothes as you Kai," Midori pointed out, defusing a possible argument before it even started.

Kairi just shrugged at this and Naminé said, "It is a bit plain, but there's an option to get a thin sash just under the bust-line, and I think I'd like a golden one, for a bit of colour and interest. I'm thinking really nice shoes though, since I can actually walk in heels." It was true, both Kairi and Midori sucked at walking in any sort of high heel, while Naminé could pull it off with ease if she wanted to.

"No one sees your shoes that much, especially if your dress is floor length," Kairi pointed out.

"I like this one," Naminé said, ignoring Kairi's point. "I like the fact that it's simple. With some cute pearls, and no doubt some sort of tiara because it is technically a royal wedding, I think it'd be perfect. I'll show Minnie the pictures."

Kairi sighed and looked at the other pictures on the screen before pointing at one of them. "I really like that one. It's really cute with the sweetheart neckline, but it kinda looks like a corset too. I like ball gown style dresses."

"You would," Naminé said as she brought up her email program, typing a quick letter to Minnie and sending her the link to the dress, as well as her sizes.

An offended look appeared on Kairi's face as she asked, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Naminé raised an eyebrow at her and carelessly said, "Well you are the one who is going through a teenage pregnancy."

Kairi's face turned red with anger and Midori quickly jumped to her feet. "Okay, this conversation is ending right now. Naminé, that was really uncalled for. There's nothing wrong with the dress, Kairi doesn't dress slutty in general, and I know that's what you were implying. Kairi, Naminé's under a bit of stress right now, so don't take everything she says to heart."

The redhead glared at both of them and said, "Get out of my room, right now."

Naminé looked at her cousin, her features softening as she realized just how much what she said bothered the other girl. "Kairi, I—"

Midori grabbed Naminé's arm before she could protest and dragged the blonde, laptop and all, out of the room before Kairi could rage anymore.

Kairi took several deep breaths before fall back onto the bed, grabbing a pillow, shoving it in front of her face and screaming into it. She knew Naminé didn't really mean anything by what she said, but the blonde should have known that with Kairi's wild hormones, any statement like that wouldn't be well received.

She let the pillow fall to her side as she thought back over the conversations they had. She rested her hand on her stomach, knowing that she wasn't showing yet, but she still felt bigger—uglier. Kairi had a feeling that part of that had to do with the fact that she was being physically distant from Sora, and had been for about three months now. It made her feel ugly and unwanted in away, but again, she assumed that her extreme react to that was because of her hormones.

She thought about it some more and decided, maybe if she could go for the next twenty-four hours without feeling sick or sore, she might just try to move her relationship with Sora back to how it was (to a point) before she became pregnant. For now though, she just wanted to sleep.

**VVVVV**

Needless to say, life on the gummi ship got really boring really fast. Once Mulan's fascination with the ship wore off, she seemed to get cabin fever fairly fast, not used to being limited to such a small space.

Emiliana seemed a little annoyed with the other woman, though no one else was sure why. Riku pointed out that some girls just didn't like being around other girls at all, so maybe that was the case. Still, both girls remained in the room that they shared on the bottom level of the gummi ship.

Roxas attempted to get a poker game started earlier, but Naminé quickly commandeered him for something or other, though both Kairi and Midori were fairly sure that it had to do with the wedding that they were hastily throwing together.

This left Sora, Kairi, Riku and Midori to laze around in the bridge. They would be at Olympus by the end of the day, but not even the excitement of going to another world could really liven up the dull air that hovered in the ship.

"Kairi, I'm bored," Sora whined, looking over at her.

She raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "What do you want me to do about that?"

"I could think of a couple things."

She rolled her eyes at him and said, "You be a good problem child and stay in your seat."

Sora pouted at looked around at Riku, who was taking his turn at piloting the ship. "She's so mean."

Riku glanced back at him with amusement and said, "Subtle."

"What?"

"No Riku," Kairi said with a shake of her head. "Despite what you may think, he's not implying sex at all."

"Wait, you thought I—" Sora's face turned red with embarrassment before he punched Riku's arm. "Not cool! I'm not some sleazebag you know."

"No, apparently you are just an overgrown child," Riku replied dryly. He looked back at Kairi and said, "Pray for a girl, or you're going to have two of them to take care of."

The redhead thought about this before saying, "Good point. Never really thought about it like that."

"Kairi!"

Midori laughed and said, "You could do it Kai. Think about it, I had to deal with Sora and Roxas back on Destiny Islands for a year. If I can do that, you can do it too."

Before Kairi could reply, there was a loud bang, and the ship jerked violently. She let out a scream, grabbing the edge of her seat to keep herself upright.

"What the fuck was that?" Sora blurted out as he looked over the controls that were flashing in front of him.

Riku steadied the ship and said, "Felt like gunfire."

"But we haven't seen—" This time they saw the laser blast as it crashed into the front of t he ship, causing part of it to explode.

"Shit," Riku cursed, trying to keep it steady. "We're slowing down."

"They took out the warp gummi so that we can't outrun them," Sora said, panic evident in his voice. They hadn't seen even the hint that there were enemy ships while traveling, so they were completely unprepared for this attack.

Roxas and Naminé stumbled into the room just as another powerful blast struck the ship. Naminé screamed as she pitched forward, crashing into Roxas, and sending them both flying towards the floor.

"What the hell's happening?" Roxas asked as he pushed himself up. He helped Naminé up, holding her close as she gripped onto his shirt for dear life.

"Enemy fire!" Midori called out.

"Why aren't the shields working?" Naminé asked.

"They are," Riku answered, looking at the controls in front of him. "If they weren't up, that first blast would have killed us."

Mulan and Emiliana rushed into the room, both coughing and choking. Emiliana's violet eyes looked around at everyone's worried and desperate faces and said, "The bottom room is filling up with smoke."

"What?" Sora asked, looking around at her with panic obvious in his eyes.

She nodded and said, "After the third hit, smoke started piling in. I didn't see a fire though. Did you?" She looked around at Mulan, who shook her head negatively as she held Mushu (who was holding onto Crik-Ee for dear life) in her arms.

Sora took a deep breath and said, "Okay. Okay. Shit, that means that something's broken somewhere." He groaned and ran his hand through his hair. "Roxas, take Naminé and Emiliana with you. Try to find whatever is broken, it may just be a small leak that's letting smoke in front outside. Block it off. If we don't, we might lose our entire air supply."

Roxas nodded and looked at Emiliana. "Think you can pinpoint where the smoke was coming from?"

"Yeah," she answered, leading them back into the depths of the ship.

Another blast from an unseen ship struck them, making everyone who was standing up lose balance.

"Oh no," Riku grumbled. "Shit. Holy fucking mother shit."

"What now?" Sora asked as he helped the fallen Mulan back to her feet.

Kairi let out a groan as she looked at the controls that were flashing with alarm and asked, "Did they just take out the guns?"

"They just took out the guns," Riku confirmed. "Midi, can you see if any of them are still working."

Midori shook her head and said, "Already looking. Looks like they're all out."

"We can't run or fight?" Mulan asked.

Mushu squeezed Crik-Ee tightly and wailed, "I always knew it was gona end like this! Lost in space and dying at the hands of aliens!"

There was a pause as Sora, Kairi, Riku, Midori and Mulan all looked at the little dragon and asked, "What?" Crik-Ee let out a curious chirp.

"Ya'll heard me!" Mushu cried out.

"Sora, what do we do?" Mulan asked him, keeping her voice and face very calm, though she was frightened beyond anything that she experienced when back in her home world.

"I—" Sora cut himself off as the ship that was attacking them finally came into view. It was sleek and black, almost impossible to see, and it had no identifying marks or symbols on it at all.

"Midori, is the communication system still running?" Sora asked as he stared at the ship.

She hit a few buttons in front of her and said, "For now."

"Try to reach Mickey, fast. Riku, do everything you can to avoid that ship. Focus only on flying. Mulan, I know you're not used to anything like this yet, but in case the worst happens, I need you to pull together those emergency kits. Remember, I showed you were all the stuff was when I showed you around, but I said that we didn't put it together yet?"

"Yes," she answered.

"Okay, the important things to go in those are food, water, those air helmets, and blankets with us. Okay?"

"I understand," the black-haired woman answered and quickly left the room.

"Sora?" Kairi called out. He turned to face her and saw her frightened and pleading gaze. She wanted to help, but she was still so scared. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach protectively.

He pushed past his instinct of wanting to tell her to just hide in the most secure spot she could find. He needed everyone to help. "Kairi, I need you to figure out an escape route. You're good with navigation. You just need to find us a world that's close enough for us to get to. Even if that ship follows us, if we can land and get off of this thing, we stand a better chance."

Kairi smiled for a brief second before nodding and taking a seat by Riku to work with the navigation equipment that was still functional.

"I got Mickey!" Midori called out as she hit a few more buttons. The screen in front of her flickered to life, and Mickey's worried face stared back at them.

"What's wrong fellas?" he mouse King asked.

"We're under attack by a strange ship. No signs or symbols on it. They've knocked out our warp drive and all of our weapons. I'm not sure how much the shields will hold up, but they're the only reason we haven't been blown out of space. I don't know what to do. We might not be able to run," Sora summarized.

Mickey took only a second to let that all sink in before he asked, "How badly is the ship damaged?"

"It's pretty bad. Kairi's looking for a world for us to land on, but we might not make it there. Roxas, Naminé and Emiliana are trying to find where the smoke in the lower level is coming from."

Mickey looked unsure for a moment before saying, "There is still a way to fight that ship off. I was going to teach you when you got back, but desperate times—"

"Teach what?" Sora interrupted, stumbling as they were attacked again. Only Riku's quick flying was saving them now.

"Your armour is special. It's the same style that Keyblade Apprentices and Masters used for over a millennia. If you concentrate enough, and hit the shoulder pad, the gold spot, you'll encase your entire body with armour."

"That's great and all, and I see how it could keep me alive, but how does it help all of us?" the brunet snapped.

Mickey wasn't the least put off with how rude he was being. They were in a desperate situation after all. "It'll protect you from darkness. Though the Keyblades actually do stop you from dying if you fell into space without any sort of protective suit, you fall unconscious. With the armour, you'll be able to breathe and function out in space."

"So what, Riku tries to get close to the ship and I jump on it and wail at it with my Keyblade?"

"I don't think I can do that," Riku called out to him.

"No. The armour is your protection. What you need to do is transform your Keyblade into a Keyblade Glider."

"A what now?"

Mickey spoke very quickly. "A Keyblade is in its natural, basic form when it looks like a sword, but you can use your power to shape your Keyblade into different things. The most useful and common one is a Keyblade Glider. You can use it to fly around in space and attack the ship directly. It'll take a lot out of you though. Because you can duel wield, you can use an actual Keyblade and still use the Glider. Everyone else has to learn to attack with their own transportation."

"So you want me to try to pull that off now?" Sora asked skeptically. Though Mickey didn't say it, Sora knew that it had to be ridiculously hard to pull off, otherwise the mouse would have mentioned it to him before now.

" You have the power of Kingdom Hearts, Sora," Mickey explained. "It might not have seemed useful to you before, but it makes all the difference now. I know you can do it!" As if timed, the screen suddenly cut off as another explosion rocked the ship.

"Communication's out," Midori said while shaking her head.

"Navigation's gone too," Kairi added. "We're flying blind."

"Okay," Sora said, summoning he Kingdom Key into his hand. "It's the only idea we have." He imagined himself completely encased in armour and hit the golden circle of the armour on his shoulder. There was a flash of light, and when it vanished, Sora was entirely covered in silver, gold and blue armour.

He looked at the Kingdom Key and muttered, "I can do this. I can do this." He moved out of the room, heading towards the door on the side of the gummi ship.

"Sora!" Kairi cried out, running after him.

"Iri, go back to our room. Those maps that Chip and Dale gave us, the ones of the worlds around Disney, are still there. Stay in there and try to figure something out. Only come out if you've got something."

"I—"

"Please."

She looked up at the armour, unable to see his actual face, though she knew he was staring at her with pleading, cerulean eyes. He really was her knight in shining armour now. Tears built up in her eyes, but she said, "Okay. I love you."

Behind the armour, Sora smiled and said, "I love you too. Now go." She rushed away with only a fleeting look back over her shoulder.

Sora swung back to the door and opened it without a second thought. He stepped out, and let himself fall. It was a dizzying experience, because he wasn't really falling, but he still felt like it. Clutching his Keyblade tightly, he concentrated with everything he had on changing it.

"_Come on Sora, it's all about believing in yourself,"_ Roxas' voice whispered in his mind. _"You can do it. Just believe you can, and then throw it."_

"Ven?" he mumbled, realizing that it wasn't Roxas speaking to him at all. There was no answered.

Sora knew that he could do it, he needed to do it. His friends and his family were on the ship. He couldn't let them die.

He threw the Kingdom Key, and watched as it spiraled away, before bursting into light. Sora assumed that he failed, and waited for the Keyblade to reappear in his hand. It didn't though. Instead, what looked like a metal, high tech surfboard rushed back to him.

As if drawn to it, Sora's feet ended up on the object, the Keyblade Glider, and he felt elation pass through him. He did it, and on the first try. He summoned Saviour into his hand, and willed the Glider to go towards the attacking ship.

His muscles strained to keep himself on, though he had a feeling that magic had a hand in that. He could feel a little more strain on his body as he controlled both the Glider and his Keyblade, but he didn't pay it any attention. It would come back to bite him later, he knew that, but he needed to keep going.

Coming up beside the ship, he slammed his Keyblade into the hull, pulling it along as he flew around the ship, ripping the side open. Whoever was flying the ship jerked it away from him, but he wasn't about to let that stop him.

"Fire!" A huge flaming ball, like a burning meteor, flew towards the ship, catching the wing on its side and obliterating it. The ship started to spiral out of control, but Sora shot after it, using his Keyblade Glider with extreme ease for the first time.

The black ship managed to stabilize itself, and just before Sora reached it, some sort of emergency thrusters turned on and it shot away from them.

Sora came to a halt, staring at the ship as it vanished using it's warp drive, not really sure what had just happened. It just, ran.

He looked back at the heavily damaged gummi ship and realized that now was not the time to focus on that. He needed to get everyone to safety.

Speeding back to the gummi ship, he managed to launch himself into the opened door, closing it behind him with some difficulty. The Keyblade and the Keyblade Glider vanished at the same time, and he quickly made his way towards the control room, armour and all.

Sora rushed in, concentrating on getting the armour off, and was back in his normal clothes quickly. Unfortunately, the sudden shift in how heavy his clothes were caused him to stumble and fall to the ground.

"That was the weirdest entrance I've ever seen," Roxas said, looking perplexed. Naminé and Emiliana were back in the room as well, both looking a little wary.

Sora pushed himself up and said, "It just ran after I got two little hits in."

"Probably why it took out our guns," Midori answered. "Shit for defense."

"Kairi says that the closest place to go is Olympus at this point of time," Riku called out to him. "If we go slow and not strain the ship, we can get there. Another attack, and we're done for though."

"How to we get off of Olympus though?" Emiliana asked skeptically, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow at Riku.

"We'll try to use the last of the gummi ship's power to get a hold of Chip and Dale," Sora muttered. "They can bring another ship. Is everyone okay?" He noticed that the only one not there was Kairi. Even Mulan had returned from her task.

"We're all fine," Naminé answered. "All of us. She was a bit freaked out though when she saw you outside, so we told her just to go back to your room to calm down."

"We can handle everything here," Roxas assured his brother. "I get the feeling that once the adrenaline's gone, you're going to be in some sort of pain, so you might wanna get back there before that."

"I think we all need some sleep," Sora answered. "Two people stay at a time to keep an eye on the controls. Mulan, Emiliana and Naminé, you guys won't be flying since you don't know how, but that's okay."

"We'll stay," Naminé volunteered, pointing at herself and Roxas. "Riku, you must be exhausted, same for you Midori. You guys both did awesome at getting us out alive though."

Sora didn't listen to the rest of the conversation as they sorted out who was flying the ship and when, he just wanted to get to Kairi.

**VVVVV**

Roxas was right. Once the adrenaline wore off, Sora could feel the exhaustion and ache in all of his muscles. He hadn't really done a lot physically, but his legs ached from the strain of figuring out how to work his new Keyblade Glider, and from being overly tense to keep himself on it (because even though there was magic helping to keep him on, he always felt like he was going to fall off), and he hurt in general, probably from some sort of magical exhaustion from changing his Keyblade's form.

He couldn't imagine how difficult it was without some aid. He had no doubt that the power that he gained from Kingdom Hearts, the power that always seemed so dormant, was the reason he was able to form his Keyblade Glider so quick.

Sora walked into his room and stopped. Kairi was laying on her side on their bed, a pillow clutched to her, and he couldn't help but notice that she was wearing a pair of her short pajama shorts and a plain tanktop with it. He walked the rest of the way in and closed the door, wondering when she found the time to change.

"Oh my god," she said quickly, jumping off of the bed and practically launching herself at him. Sora stumbled a bit as she hugged him tightly. "Thank god you're okay. I was so worried. They told me to come back here and wait because I was freaking out and—thank god." Sora couldn't even rely as she grabbed the front of his shirt and jerked him down to meet her as she kissed him on the lips. He was a little surprised, but returned the kiss once his brain processed what was going on. He did notice that Kairi seemed almost desperate, and it occurred to him just how much she worried about him when he did stuff like running into danger on his own.

Sora broke the kiss, but he didn't move away from her as he said, "I'm fine Kairi. A little sore, and a little tired maybe, but I'm okay. I promise. That ship ran pretty much as soon as I got out there."

She stared at him for a moment, her eyes searching his before she smirked a bit and said, "Maybe I can make you feel better."

"Huh?"

She kissed him again before she said, "Do you know what that stupid stunt did to me? God, I was so worried but then again, there you were, being all knight-in-shining armour, literally, to save us all and I don't even know why but that is like a huge turn on for me, and it's probably the weirdest thing ever and the more I think about it the more I realize that holy crap its been like three months and then I just—"

"Wait," Sora interrupted, a smirk appearing on his face as he processed what she said. She knew that grin well, it was the one he used when he found something he could use to mercilessly tease one of his friends. "Are you saying that you have a turn on to people playing the knight, and the real shining armour just helps it more?"

Kairi's cheeks turned bright red as she mumbled, "Did I say that?"

"Yes, yes you did. I hope that's only a me thing—and not every guy you meet."

"No! It's just you and…what are you doing?" she realized that Sora was grinning at her, and she took a small step back from him, but he took a step towards her, put his hands on her hips and pulled her to him as he kissed her. She was quick at trying to pull him closer to her, and somehow, in the jumble of movements, they ended up back on the bed, Sora hovering over her so that he wouldn't hurt her as they broke apart.

"Is it safe to do this?" he asked as he breathed in deeply. "It won't hurt it?"

"It's fine," Kairi mumble letting out a sigh as he press his lips to her neck. "Did you know that pregnancy is actually great for a sex life?"

"I won't believe it until I see it," he replied teasingly.

Kisses got deeper and hands started to wander as Kairi worked on removing the vast amount of clothes that he was wearing at the time. There was a knock on the door, but they both chose to ignore it. Whoever it was, was a persistent bastard and continued to knock until Sora pulled away from her. He grumbled angrily as he quickly moved off of her, and Kairi propped herself onto her elbows to watch him. She watched him open the door and talk to whoever it was outside, but she couldn't actually tell who it was, because the door wasn't opened enough. Sora seemed to be trying to shoo whoever it was away though.

Kairi smirked a bit, watching Sora fidget while he was trying to get the person to leave. She knew that she had got him worked up quite a bit, but she couldn't be surprised. They had gone from a very physical relationship to basically Sora being almost afraid to touch her.

Sora told her about his nightmares of him hurting her, and she knew that it was a constant fear he had while he was around her. She knew that he was just worried for her, but she was determined to make him just be himself around her again.

Kairi quickly sat up, shrugging off her shirt and shorts, leaving her in only her underwear and bra. She didn't want to think about the mental problems that her boyfriend (fiancé, she reminded herself with an internal giggle) was having, or about her own problems. She just wanted it to be like before she was pregnant.

She watched him close the door and lock it. He was quick to cross the room again, swooping down and kissing her deeply. She giggled hysterically as he pulled back from her and she said, "Someone's suddenly eager. It's because I have an awesome rack now, right?"

He chuckled a bit. "Or maybe I just missed being this close to you."

"I don't believe you," she said while pressing her lips to his pulse, her hand trailing downwards. "I love you."

Sora pressed his lips to her eagerly, gently pushing her back on the bed, and they didn't pay attention to anything or anyone else except for each other.

**VVVVV**

Sora's eyes slowly opened. He looked around the darkened room, not sure of exactly what woke him up. He looked down at Kairi, who was lying under the covers, her bare body pressed up against his as she slept with a small smile on her face. He stared at her for a moment, not sure of the last time he had truly seen her so happy or peaceful.

He decided that she was still asleep and than his slight shifted didn't both her. He carefully lifted the covers up, peering at her stomach that was pressed against his side. He shifted away from her just slightly, staring at her abdomen critically, trying to see proof of the changes happening inside of her.

In general, her stomach was still flat, and the only slight changes to her body that he noticed was the fact that her breasts were bigger, and her face was slightly rounder than normal. Neither of those things really stood out though (okay, so maybe Roxas and Riku had made a few comments about her chest, so that visibly had changed).

Now though, staring at her stomach when it wasn't concealed by clothing, he slowly realized that her stomach, while still generally flat, looked just slightly swollen. He doubted that, unless she looked for it, she'd even notice it yet. Now that he saw it though, he couldn't miss it. It was like her stomach wasn't quite as defined as before, and was just barely starting to bulge out. He knew that in a matter of time, it would be very obvious that their child was growing inside of her.

It was easy to pretend that nothing had changed when he couldn't see any proof, but that just barely visible bump changed everything.

He let the covers fall and tilted his head back slightly. He squeezed his eyes shut, unable to stop the scenes from replaying in his mind over and over again. In every dream, every vision, he saw himself hurting her. No one else, it was always him in the end. He knew that they were dreams, but he had so many dreams in the past that were significant that he couldn't ignore it. The only good dreams he had were of Kairi holding a small baby in blue blankets, but crying a bit because he wasn't there and he couldn't be there. Be there and hurt her, or leave and hurt her. He couldn't do either. He didn't know what to do.

He looked back at her, running a hand through her slightly tangled hair. He wished that there was someone who could tell him what he needed to do. They were growing up too fast, and he didn't know how to handle it.

He didn't even know if he could handle it.

**VVVVV**

_**Author's Note**_

Okay, this chapter is nearly as long as the last one. Guess I lied. But a little bit of everything happened here. The whole ship attack will be explained later, but it is relevant.

Remember, Xehanort's motives aren't always obvious at first in the games, and that's something I'm incorporating into this more.

Yes, the 'thing from the past' that I brought up was the idea of the Keyblade Gliders and armour, as well as a little more talk about Ven. You were introduced to Namine slowly turning into a bridezilla, which is showing up a lot in one of the later chapers and is kind of amusing.

Yeah, I made quite a few typos in the last chapter, or at least the same one over and over. Sorry about that. To be honest, when I start typing, I type incredibly fast and I don't really look back at what I wrote beyond a glance, so sometimes I won't even notice if I typed the wrong word or not. Sometimes I even have to do two things at once and I don't even look at the screen while I'm typing at all. Normally I catch the majority of typos while quickly editing, but to be honest, I didn't edit the last chapter beyond making sure Namine's name had the accent on it. Oh well.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I didn't get around to replying to anyone, but I still really do appreciate it. Awesome people include: **Q-A the Authoress, Twilight Cardmistress, Eddie Camp, xNINJABLADE45x, The 666****th**** necrophiliac, EvilxLittlexNinja, Silverpaopu, 16afoster, and ComanderFlynn.**

Also, I'm thinking about making just a small little blog for random things. Sometimes just rants from me, other times talking about different things that I'm interested in, topics others might bring up, and, most importantly, about all of my fics. You know, answer questions that were never really answered, explain background information that won't actually be posted in the fics but I know about, give advice and other things like that. I know I could do that here too, but I'd rather have somewhere else for it. What do you guys think? Think it's worth my time?

I was going to post this tomorrow on Remembrance Day (Memorial Day in the States, if I'm right), but I changed my mind.

I hope everyone stands in silence tomorrow for all the veterans who fought for freedom in all of the wars, those who are still fighting, and even those who never actually went to war, but were always willing and ready to.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	20. The Big Olive

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Nineteen – The Big Olive_

"Okay guys," Sora said, sitting at the pilot's seat on the gummi ship. "If you're not sitting down, make sure to hold on to something. We don't have enough power to leave the gummi ship in orbit, so we actually have to land it."

Kairi hummed a bit, adjusting her seatbelt in an almost airy way. She was in an incredibly good mood since she woke up, and everyone noticed it. Sora could kind of see what people meant by how pregnant women had a glow to them sometimes.

Roxas and Riku both gave them knowing looks, Roxas wriggling his eyebrows at them. Kairi didn't even care; she was in too much of a good mood. No pains, no sickness, and no impending doom upon waking up instantly made her day.

The gummi ship only had six seats in it, and with the most experience piloting, Sora was the one who had the job of landing their broken and battered ship on Olympus. They intended on landing far enough away from populated areas not to attract too much attention from the civilians around. They still needed to be close enough to the city to find Hercules though.

Kairi used the pregnancy card and happily claimed one of the seats without anyone protesting. Riku and Roxas decided to do the gentlemanly thing and let Naminé, Midori, Mulan and Emiliana take the remaining seats while they held on.

Sora eased the damaged gummi ship towards Olympus, wincing a bit as they started going through the atmosphere. It caused the ship to shake violently, something that Sora never really experienced when actually landing a ship.

"Hold on to something guys," Sora warned all of them as the shaking got stronger and stronger.

"Sora, we're heating up pretty bad," Midori said while looking at the controls in front of her.

"Turn off all systems except for the life support ones," he told her. "We need every ounce of power we can get to call Chip and Dale later." She nodded her head and worked quickly to turn off everything. Aside from Sora's judgment, they were going completely blind.

Sora winced again as the gummi ship crashed into the ground, skidding along the surface. Everyone jerked, throwing out their arms and holding on to the closest thing possibly to steady themselves until the ship came to a stop.

Everyone sat in silence until Naminé took a deep breath and said, "We're alive."

"Bonus," Roxas muttered as he straightened himself up. "Next time you're standing while we hurl down towards the surface of a planet."

Sora stood up, shaking out his limbs that were incredibly tense and sore. Kairi stood up, slipping her hand into his own and leaning her head onto his shoulder. He smiled at her before looking around and saying, "Midi, I know you're the best with computers, so do you think you could try to get the communication system working?"

"I can try," she answered, "I may need some help though."

Everyone else went silent. All of them had their strengths and weaknesses, but none of them were overly good with computers.

Emiliana let out an annoyed sigh and said, "I'm pretty competent with computers. The world I'm from is fairly technologically advanced."

Midori looked like she wanted to protest, since it was so secret that she didn't really like the brunette all that much. Still, she wasn't about to turn down any sort of help if it meant getting help from Disney.

"Okay," she answered.

Sora nodded and said, "Everyone else get the packs and head outside. We need to see exactly where we landed."

Mulan let out a sigh of relief. Though she wasn't one to complain, she'd be glad to get off of the ruined gummi ship. She wasn't sure if she enjoyed flying all that much.

"Thank god," Mushu blurted out. "We need some fresh air in here."

Everyone except for Midori and Emiliana made their way outside. Naminé took in a deep breath and said, "I agree with Mushu."

"You know," Sora said while looking around, "I don't think we're all that far from Thebes."

"Think we could walk there?" Roxas asked.

His brother shrugged in reply and said, "Probably. Chip and Dale will no doubt track the wreck though, so someone will have to stay here."

Riku let out a whistle as he looked over the exterior of the gummi ship. None of them were exactly sure how any of them were actually alive still.

The sight of the ship, and the realization of how close they had come to death, Kairi gripped Sora's hand tighter. "Sora, can we leave?"

"Think you can make it to the city?"

She nodded her head.

"Right," Sora said. "Kairi and I will go ahead and—"

"I'm going to stay here," Riku said quickly, looking into the ship with interest. "I think a cat fight might start."

"Ooh," Mushu said excitedly while crawling up onto his shoulder. "This I have ta see." They could all faintly hear Emiliana and Midori arguing.

Mulan rolled her eyes and said, "As much as I'd like to see this world, I'll stay and keep all of them under control."

"I wanna meet Hercules!" Roxas said excitedly. He looked around at Naminé and took her hand. "Wanna go?"

"I guess," she agreed. "I've never been here before. I saw it in Sora's memories, but that's about it."

Roxas tilted his head slightly, his eyes squinting in thought as he said, "I did, when I was in the Organization. My memories are a little bit fuzzy sometimes, but I'll probably remember more as I go."

Sora smiled broadly and said, "Sounds good. You are okay to walk, right Kairi?"

She sent him a quick glare and said, "I'm pregnant, not handicapped."

"Off to see the wizard!" Roxas cried out happily, grabbing Naminé's arm and rushing ahead of them, not caring that everyone else was staring at him as if he was the oddest thing that they had ever seen.

**VVVVVVV**

Sora's group walked in relative silence for a while, taking in their surroundings. Roxas and Sora were a ways in front of Kairi and Naminé, who were walking a little slower, trying to take in everything that they could.

"You know, I've never seen much of this world before," Sora said so that they could all hear with a shrug. "Just the Coliseum and the Underworld."

"That's too bad," Kairi replied. "It's so beautiful here. All of the trees and so…swirly. Everything is." True to the redhead's words, all of the trees, other plants, heck, even the clouds all seemed to have a bit of a swirl to them.

Naminé nudged her cousin gently and said, "It'd be a nice design for a nursery. Soft, flowing edges and bright colours."

Kairi looked at her surroundings thoughtfully before saying, "It would, wouldn't it?"

In front of them, Roxas rolled his eye before speaking directly to his brothers, "I was only ever at the Coliseum here."

Sora blinked at this, his eyebrows furrowing with confusion. "What did you do there?'

"Well…" Roxas trailed off slightly, "technically, my mission was to collect hearts from Heartless for Xemnas' fake Kingdom Hearts. But see, I was paired with Demyx most of the time in this world. Most of the time he either took off and left everything to me, or we both slacked off. I ended up doing a bit of training with Phil." He looked thoughtful for a second. "I think that he thought I was someone else, but I went with it anyway."

Sora laughed and said, "Seems like your memory's getting clearer."

Roxas nodded. "Yeah. Whenever we go to a place, I remember more about when I was there the first time. Sometimes I get flashbacks of your time in different worlds too. Like when you trained with Phil."

"It's funny, Phil never mentioned training an Organization member before. Then again," he grinned, "the threat wasn't quite as big here, because, you know, it was Demyx when he was being a coward."

Shaking his head, the blond said, "Believe me, I know." He looked thoughtful for a moment before asking, "Think Ax—I mean Lea, and Ienzo too, are doing okay?

"They probably fine. If anything, Donald and Goofy are probably driving them crazy from keeping an eye on them." Sora let out a yawn, stretching this arm out before crossing them behind his head. "Anyway, Hades has always been a bigger threat than the Organization. He's a god, and is kind of immortal, so we can't really get rid of him."

Roxas was about to reply, but Kairi and Naminé caught up to them. "Hey, Sora?"

His cerulean eyes turned to his girlfriend as he walked backwards so that he was facing her. "Yeah Iri?"

"I was wondering, well, Naminé and I were wondering," she clarified, "why don't you just use Corridors of Light to travel from world to world. It'd be safer."

For some reason, this question startled Sora and he ended up tripping and falling on his rear. Sora looked up at the startled young woman and stuttered, "Well, yeah, but…"

"But?" she urged.

"Do you really think that you could walk that much?" Roxas blurted out.

Naminé immediately smacked his arm. "Roxas!"

Not phased by her light hit, he shook his head and said, "I didn't mean it insultingly. I meant it in worry for the health of both my dear sister-in-law and my nephew or niece." His features softened a bit. "You get tired way easier Kai, and you don't want to hurt yourself."

"I guess you're right," Kairi admitted.

"It's not just that," Sora said as he pushed himself off of the ground. He put a hand on Kairi's shoulder and continued, "We'll get to worlds that'll force us to transform without warning. You know that just as much as I do. It could kill you."

She frowned and turned her gaze to the ground. "So everyone stays in danger because of me."

"Don't think about it like that," Naminé said optimistically. "Think about it, if we took Corridors of Light, direct paths from world to world, Sora might not be able to sense any Keyblade Bearers that we haven't discovered yet."

"I guess," she agreed grudgingly.

"Come on," Sora said to her, squeezing her shoulder gently. "Roxas is already leaving us." Sure enough, the blond hadn't stopped when the rest of them had. Instead, he stopped away from them, stared at whatever was in front of him, turned to stare at them and waved his hands around wildly.

"The city's right there!" he called out to the, pointing over his shoulder.

Sora quickly rushed forward, Kairi and Naminé right behind him. They joined Roxas at the hillside, and Sora squinted passed the sun shining into his eyes. "There's the Coliseum! Guess we landed a lot closer than I thought."

"Just a bit," Naminé quipped.

"Oh, I wonder if there's a tournament going on?" Roxas asked excitedly.

Sora grinned slightly and said, "There's always one going on whenever we stop by."

"Lets go see," he said happily, once again grabbing Naminé's hand and leading her off. This time though, she went with him happily, eager to see if there was a tournament or not.

**VVVVVVV**

Riku looked up with interest as Midori let out a growl while coming out of the gummi ship. Emiliana followed her, standing a few feet behind her while the raven-haired girl said, "I got a hold of the castle. Problem is, they don't have any fast gummi ships on them with the amount of room we need."

He frowned and asked, "Did they say how long they'd be?"

"A week, give or take," Emiliana answered, visibly not impressed as she looked around, taking in Olympus.

"We might as well go find the others," Mulan suggested. "There's no point staying here."

With a shrug, Midori said, "Yeah, probably the best idea."

"Of course it is," Mushu shot back, "my girl thought of it!"

"Can we get a muzzle for him?" Emiliana asked with an annoyed sigh, and Mulan shot her a dark look.

"Come on, we should go find the others," Riku quickly interrupted. "Who knows where they ended up."

"They went that way," Midori said while pointing. "It leads to the city, and it's actually pretty close. Sora didn't get as far from it as he thought."

"Good, I don't feel like walking a marathon today," Riku said as he stretched out his arms and started walking in the direction Midori pointed out.

**VVVVVVV**

The Coliseum wasn't at all busy, which was slightly surprising to Sora. Every time that he went to Olympus before, there were crowds lined up outside of it, all the stone bleachers filled, and the sound of loud cheering echoed everywhere. There were a few people milling around, and the city of Thebes seemed to be bustling with life, but the arena was pretty dead.

Sora led the way, holding Kairi's hand with his own. She looked around before asking, "You really competed here before?"

"Yeah, come look," he said happily as he guided her over to the tapestries on the wall. Sora's name came towards the top of a lot of them.

"Wow, that's amazing," she gushed. Roxas let out a small snort, and she glared at him. "It is."

"I could have beat him."

"I'll take that challenge," Sora replied quickly. "I don't think you can."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah?"

"How much you wanna bet?"

Naminé sighed and shook her head before looking over at Kairi. "At birth, your baby will instantly have more maturity than these two."

Kairi hummed in agreement before stepping in and saying, "Okay guys, either whip 'em our and measure 'em, or shut up." Both Sora and Roxas stared at her with slight surprise before glancing at each other and laughing hysterically. Whatever they found so funny, neither Kairi nor Naminé ever found out, because the sound attracted a very annoyed presence.

"All right you Hooligans! I'm tired of you breaking in and—Sora!"

Sora looked around, wiping the tears of laughter from his eyes as he saw Phil approaching them. He grinned broadly and said, "Hey Phil!"

"How's it going kid?" 

"Eh, it could be better, but it could also be a lot worse. Looks like there's not much going on here right now."

Phil let out a snort and said, "No Heartless, no Nobodies, no monsters from Hades…and there's no attraction to watching normal people fight Herc. He takes 'em all down with the good ol' one-two. Tell me ya brought something interesting with ya?"

"No, sorry Phil," Sora said while shaking his head. "I'm glad to see there isn't anything here."

"That's unfor—well hello ladies." Phil licked his hand and smoothed back the few strands of hair that were on top of his head as he sauntered over to Naminé and Kairi. "I can't believe this dunderhead didn't introduce us. The name's Philoctetes, but you can call me Phil. What are two fine young ladies like yourselves doing here?"

Kairi and Naminé shared an amused glance before Kairi said, "I've heard a lot about you Phil." She moved close to Sora and grabbed his arm. "My name's Kairi, and I'm Sora's girl—" She stopped and looked up at him curiously for a moment before turning back to Phil. "Well, actually I'm his fiancée."

"Get outta town!" Phil said loudly while putting his hands on his hips. "You can't be getting married, you're just kids."

"Roxas and Naminé are getting married too," Sora said quickly, diverting Phil's attention to the two blonds. "Before us even."

Naminé smiled sweetly at Phil and said, "I suppose that goes without saying that I'm Naminé and this is Roxas. He and Sora are twins, and yes, we are getting married as well."

"I suddenly feel ancient," Phil said with a shake of his head. He zeroed in on Roxas and said, "Hey, aren't you that kid I trained a while back?"

"Er…yeah…about that—" 

"You weren't even the kid Herc sent! What gave ya the right to just waste my time?"

"You did?" Naminé asked, but it fell on deaf ears.

"Good thing you're Spiky's brother, or I'd have two words to yell ya bub: you're dead meat." Roxas looked at Sora with confusion, and he just shook his head with a shrug. "So, what brings ya here anyway kid?"

"Well, we were traveling and ran into some trouble. Ended up here," he explained with a shrug.

"We were going to come here anyway though," Roxas added in. "See, we need Hercules to come with us for a whi—"

"Woah, woah, you want Herc to go with you? I don't think so," Phil said, narrowing his eyes at them and motioning with his arms wildly. "He can't let up his training, especially since I have to work that Keyblade into it now."

"That's the thing Phil," Sora said, his voice suddenly cautious. "You're an awesome trainer and all, but Hercules needs someone to help train with his Keyblade. We're rounding up the Keyblade Bearers to help train them because—"

"Now you're saying that I'm not doing a good enough job?"

"No, Phil," Sora snapped, suddenly visibly annoyed. "I'm saying that there's a psychopath out there staging some plan we don't know about, sending out enemies that are nearly possible to beat, and he might possibly target Keyblade Bearers because he's a Keyblade Master himself. If it was just Heartless, you'd be fine for training, but this is different. Hercules needs to learn to use his Keyblade in more advanced ways, ways that you can't teach him, but Mickey, Yen Sid, and even I can."

"Now you see here kid!"

"What's going on?"

Everyone stopped and looked around. There, standing only a few feet away from them was Hercules. It was the first time that Kairi ever saw him, and though she wasn't sure what she was expecting, it certainly wasn't the incredibly tall young man, who had more muscles than Riku could ever dream of.

Naminé leaned over and muttered, "Why are we going out with such skinny guys when guys like that exist?"

"Well, it could be because we love them. Or it could be because I'm knocked up and you need to get married asap."

"Ahhh right," Naminé said with a nod of her head.

"Hey Herc!" Sora said jovially with a big smile, ignoring Phil's angry cries from the background. "We were just talking about you."

"Were you? It sounded more like arguing," Hercules said with a grin as he came forward and gave Sora a high-five.

"Yeah," the brunet said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "About that. We were actually wondering if you could do us a favour."

"No he will not!" Phil said, head-butting Sora's leg enough to cause him to grunt and glare at the satyr.

"Okay," Kairi interrupted, moving between Phil and Sora, confident that Phil wouldn't try to attack her. "Enough of that."

Hercules stared at her for a moment before saying, "You must be Kairi. Every time Sora came to visit before, he rambled on about you."

Pink tinted Kairi's cheeks and Sora chuckled with slight embarrassment as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. With his free arm, Sora motioned to his brother and said, "This is my twin, Roxas, and that's Kairi's cousin Naminé."

Hercules greeted them before saying, "What do you need Sora? Let him talk Phil." He saw Phil about to protest.

"Something bad is happening in the worlds. We think that there's this dark Keyblade Master, Xehanort. He's more dangerous than anything else we've seen before. It'd be one thing if we were just dealing with Heartless. I have no doubt that each Keyblade Bearer is skilled enough to defend their own world from Heartless. But another Keyblade Master…"

"We're gathering all of the Keyblade Bearers," Roxas continued for his brother. "Basically for a boot camp so that everyone is ready for what could be coming. We'd like for you to come with us, just for some training with other Keyblade Bearers."

"Phil keeps saying no," Naminé added as she took Roxas' hand. He grinned down at her before shaking his head.

Hercules looked down at his coach and said, "Really Phil?"

"You can't go. We need you here! No one will come to the tournaments without you! What is Hades attacks?"

"Calm down bow-legs," a smooth, feminine voice said. Kairi careened her head over Sora's shoulder and saw a tall, slender young woman with long, dark, reddish-brown hair, and bright purple eyes. Kairi felt a little jealous, seeing the woman's small frame, and instantly felt fat compared to her.

"Hi Meg," Sora spoke up.

"Well Sora, it's been a while," the woman said to him. She looked at the girl in his arms and said, "And you must be Kairi."

She felt a wave of annoyance pass through her before mentally calming herself down. She knew that she was going to get that question a lot from those that she didn't meet yet. Really though, it was going to be terribly annoying to introduce themselves to everyone over and over again. She wondered if Sora did that while he was traveling with Donald and Goofy.

Before more introductions could be made, the sound of arguing reached their ears. Once again, they all looked to see exactly what was going on, and saw Riku and Mulan walk into the coliseum. Riku kept glancing behind him oddly, and Sora could see Mushu peaking out of the back of Mulan's shirt with interest. He quickly came to the (correct) assumption that Midori and Emiliana got into another fight.

"Well, I guess more introductions are in order," Sora said while shaking his head.

"We met Riku before," Hercules said, nodding towards the young man as he approached. "He was with Donald, Goofy, Mickey and that green-haired girl, Midori."

"Yeah, she's one of the ones arguing out there," Sora said, motioning to the entrance as Riku and Mulan reached them. "Right, so introductions for all! As you know, this is Kairi, that's my brother Roxas and his fiancé Naminé, Midori is outside, but she has black hair now just so you know, she's arguing with a girl named Emiliana, and this is Mulan. We found Emiliana in Traverse Town but her world was destroyed, but she's a Keyblade Bearer too, and Mulan is the Keyblade Bearer from the world Land of Dragons."

Mulan bowed politely and said, "It is an honour to meet you."

"Umm, I think you're forgetting someone," Mushu said, jumping from Mulan over to Sora and moving close to his face. "Someone important."

Rolling his eyes, the brunet said, "This is Mulan's guardian, Mushu. His bark is bigger than his bite." His eyes suddenly snapped to Phil as he said, "Mulan decided to come with us, even though she's an important warrior at her home. That, and she just got engaged too."

"Phil," Hercules said before the satyr could snap again, "maybe it's a good idea. Taking a journey is never a bad thing. That's how we first met, remember?"

Phil grumbled before Meg cleared her throat and said, "I have an idea."

"Oh?" Riku asked, slightly distracted as Midori and Emiliana showed up, sending each other dark glares. He glanced from Emiliana and back to Meg, and wondered if it was a genetic thing for the hottest people to have some variant of purple to their eyes. He looked at Meg, Emiliana, Naminé and Kairi and internally nodded his head at the conclusion.

"Why not ask the big guy what he thinks you should so, just to calm down the pinhead with hooves here?" Meg said, smirking a bit as Phil huffed at her.

"My dad?" Hercules asked her. "I dunno Meg, he's kinda busy most of the time."

"Woah wait, isn't your dad Zeus?" Sora asked him, his eyes widening with excitement. "We never did thank him for letting us borrow the Olympus Stone."

Hercules nodded his head and said, "Right, I'll go ask his advice. Either way, he has to know if I'm going."

"Great," Roxas said happily, clapping his hands together. "But one question, do you know any good motels, or anywhere we can stay for about…how long are we gonna be here?" He looked at Midori as he asked this.

"We got a hold of Disney," Midori said while crossing her arms in front of her. "Chip and Dale just have to finish up the last on their newest ship and it'll be ready to go by tomorrow. It won't be quite as fast as the one we had, but that's because it's bigger."

"There should be enough room for most of us," Emiliana continued, ignoring Midori's harsh gaze. "Several bathrooms too, so we don't have to share with anyone…different." Her eyes slipped to Mulan, who pointedly ignored her.

"It's bigger, so it goes slower. They've been working on it for a while," Midori explained. "We'll probably be here for about five or six days."

"Five or six, huh?" Phil piped up suddenly, sounding interested all over again. He looked around at them all before saying, "Champ, go talk to your old man. I've got a few plans to make."

"What about a place to stay?" Naminé asked.

"Well, my place," Hercules said, as if it was obvious. "I have a massive house. There's plenty of room. Just…uh…don't open the gates. Ever. There are hidden ways to get in."

"You'll unleash the raging see of hormones upon us all," Meg said. "Wonderboy here has a certain, large following."

"Fan girls?" Riku asked.

"Yeah," Hercules admitted sheepishly. "It's easier to keep them out with the Keyblade though. Still, there's tons of room for everyone. Think you can show them the way, Meg?"

"I can handle everything here, you go talk to your father before Phil changes his mind," Meg nodded in the direction that Phil took off in. "So, how many rooms do we need?"

**VVVVVVV**

"Panic!"

The small, thin, deep turquoise demon jumped and spun around, his tiny, bony, clawed hands clutching the spot over his heart as he breathed in and out quickly. A second demon, this one with a round, deep red body, rushed towards him, but ended up stumbling over his own feet and stumbling down the stairs. He bounced, and his bottom ended up impaled on the small demon's horns. He let out a yell of pain and hopped off, rubbing his sore bottom. This one was named Pain.

"You won't believe what I just saw!" Pain said after a moment.

"What?"

"Down in the caverns. I was just going for a stroll, you know, to get some exercise, and I saw this—this thing!"

"What thing?"

"Remember, oh, ten years ago, or so? There were those weird creatures around?"

Panic thought for a moment and asked, "Those weird Unversed things?"

"No, the really weak ones."

"Endless?"

"Yeah! Those! I just saw some! They look stronger though."

Panic was thoughtful before a look of fear passed his features and he said, "Oh no."

"What?" Pain asked.

"Lord Hades really didn't like those things. I mean, really didn't like those. He's going to be furious that they're here. He'll roast us alive when we tell him!"

Pain thought about this, knowing that it was true. He looked at his companion, a sly grin appearing on his face as he said, "If he finds out."

"If," Panic repeated, an identical grin appearing on his face. "If is good."

**VVVVVVV**

"Up!"

Sora jerked up, looking around with confusion, Kairi pushed herself up on her elbow beside him and tiredly asked, "Phil?"

"So I've come to the conclusion that yeah, maybe it'd be good for Herc to go with you guys, give me a vacation, but I want something in return," Phil said, ignoring the fact that he just woke them up. Kairi glared at him hotly, but he ignored that too.

"What?" Sora muttered, slumping back down so that Phil couldn't see him behind Kairi.

"You guys are going to participate in a mini-tournament for me. A publicity stunt, if you will. Anyone would want to see a bunch of Keyblade Wielders duke it out. Of course, I'll have a separate round for the guys and girls but—"

"Woah, woah," Kairi sat up quickly, making sure hat her nightdress was still on properly. Sora warned her a little bit that Phil was a tiny bit of a pervert. "You think that you need to…segregate us from the boys?" Phil opened his mouth to answer. "You'll do no such thing. We can hold our own."

"But—"

"You heard me," Kairi snapped. "Girls and boys, same tournament."

There was a pause and Phil asked, "So does that mean you'll do it?"

Kairi looked around at Sora, whose face was buried into the pillow. She nudged him and he looked up at her before groaning and saying, "Yeah, we'll do it Phil. Except for Kairi. She's not in." Kairi was about to protest. "No Kairi."

She sighed and said, "Fine. All of us but me."

"Fine. I'll go see if any of those crazy kids from around town want to participate so we have enough people. You're doing be a big favour kid!" Phil called out before leaving the room.

Kairi turned and looked at Sora. His face was in the pillow again as he yawned and said, "It's one thing going from world to world. I get that protecting them is part of your responsibility, but going into a tournament to fight other Keyblade Bearers? No."

"But Sora," she pouted. "They know I'm pregnant."

"Which means they'll go easy on you, which isn't fair to you."

She stared at him for a moment before sighing and flopping back on the bed, resting her hand on her stomach. "Yeah, I guess. I don't have to like it though."

"Hey," he teased, "don't be a frown-y face. Maybe I'll even put my armour on for ya later."

"Not funny," Kairi grumbled before rolling him out of the bed. She looked down at his stunned face and said, "You have to tell everyone that our fee for staying here and stealing Hercules is a tournament. You should do it now."

Sora sighed dramatically and said, "Not even married and you already have me whipped."

"Baby, I had you whipped since the day I first met you."

**VVVVVVV**

"Sweet!" Roxas cried out happily as Sora explained to him that Phil wanted them to participate in a small tournament while they were there, just to give the coliseum a little boost before Hercules left.

"So Phil's going to find some more people?" Riku asked curiously.

"I don't really know, he kind of just stormed into our room this morning," Sora answered with a shrug. "He mentioned that he was going to find a few."

"More then just a few," Phil said to them as he approached, followed by Hercules. "I got it all planned out. There's two rounds, the semi-finals and the finals."

"That's a small tournament?"

"Ask the kid there," Phil said, motioning to Sora. "Tournaments normally have at least ten rounds. Anyway, I managed to round up a couple 'a guys that were interested in getting their butts kicked. We're gonna have four fights today, four tomorrow, the second round the day after, and then the semi-finals and finals on the same day. See, small tournament."

"Awesome, do you know who we're going up against?" Naminé asked, sounding oddly eager. That was probably because Kairi explained how Phil tried to separate the girls from the boys earlier, and she was looking to prove herself. Kairi would have done it, but Naminé pointed out that Sora was right in telling her that she shouldn't enter the tournament. She was carrying his child, after all.

"Yup. Got the names of the other guys, and paired them at random. We've got Mulan versus Than, I know, weird name. Hercules versus Cyrus, Midori versus Seth, Emiliana verses Allair, Naminé verses Alexander, Riku versus Nikias, Roxas versus Draco and Sora versus Theophylaktos."

"Me versus a what now?" Sora asked, looking positively flabbergasted.

"Theophylaktos," Hercules repeated, not stumbling over the name at all.

Emiliana raised an eyebrow, glanced at Sora and said, "Sounds like you're fighting a disease."

He couldn't help but agree with her. "Well, guess trying to psych him out by name calling is out of the question. Who's up first, Phil?"

"Right, today we have you, Roxas, Riku and Naminé. Sora, the people here know who you are, so you're up first. Tomorrow is Midori, Emiliana, Mulan, and we're closing with Hercules, since he's the big ticket around here. Remember guys, we're trying to draw in a few crowds so we don't go completely bankrupt while you're gone."

"Calm down before you hurt yourself," Meg said as she approached, going to stand beside Hercules. "Did you tell them?"

"Tell us what?" Kairi asked curiously.

"Oh, my parents are coming to watch," Hercules said, shrugging as if it wasn't a big deal. "The people won't see them, they'll be disguised in the eyes of most people. Only those who know will see them as is. Dad's bored, and when he gets bored he does a lot of reckless things, so this should entertain them. Mom's coming to keep him in control."

Phil's mouth fell open and he said, "Zeus? The big guy? He's coming?"

"Don't worry Phil, it's no big deal. Though, somehow he knew that Kairi wasn't participating, but then I remember that he's a God, so I shouldn't be surprised," Hercules shook his head. "They offered for Kairi and Meg to sit with them."

"I get to sit with Gods?" Kairi asked excitedly. At Hercules' nod, she turned to Sora, eyes wide. "I get to it with Gods!"

"Alright guys, this means we got big company," Phil said quickly. "Fight, but try to keep it entertaining. You can all whip these guys, so try to draw out the fights a bit. Kapeesh?"

**VVVVVVV**

Kairi was amazed at home many people showed up to see the Keyblade Bearers in action (in a non-threatening setting). The stands were crowded, but oddly enough, there wasn't that many people around where she and Meg were sitting. Her eyes slid to the opposite side of the arena, where Sora's opponent, Theophylaktos was standing. He seemed a little stunned and slack-jawed, and Meg quickly informed her that he was one of Hercules' fanboys. He was probably in awe of Sora too, since he was almost as famous as the demi-god himself.

Meg stood up quickly, and Kairi whirled around to see what she was looking at. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw a beautiful woman with a pink glow to her entire body. Her skin was tinted pink, and her hair was a golden colour with a pink glow. The man walking beside her was probably the tallest man that she had ever seen with long white hair, a white beard and a purple toga on. The glow around his body was strange, because it was several different colours. His hair glowed white, his skin orange and his clothes purple.

She instantly knew that these two were the God and Goddess, Zeus and Hera.

Kairi quickly stood up beside Meg as they approached. Hera hugged Meg warmly before turning to Kairi. She smiled at her and said, "Hello Kairi. I've been looking forward to meeting you. My name is Hera, and I am Hercules' mother."

"Ahh, the Keyblade Master's girl. It's nice to meet you," Zeus said, sounding much more excited than Hera's calming tone. "He's an amazing warrior. He deserves the constellation I made of him, Donald and Goofy."

A loud ding echoed around the stadium, and Sora and Theophylaktos met in the middle. Kairi blinked with surprise, not realizing that they were starting already. She thought that there'd be an announcement or something. Then it occurred to her that Olympus didn't actually have modern technology, and the crowd was too loud to hear over.

Kairi watched as Sora summoned his Keyblade, only one, the Kingdom Key. She knew that he had stronger ones, but from the look of what's-his-name. He seemed kind of star-struck from where she was sitting. He was dressed a lot like Hercules, and was even insisting on fighting with his fists like the demi-god.

"He's not going to last long," Meg said as she sat next to Kairi, watching as Sora almost gently hit him. "Boy's an idiot, going up against a Keyblade Master without a weapon."

"He's going awfully easy on him," Zeus agreed.

Sora's blows were light, and they were actually fairly easy to predict. Still, he was able to land every single hit on Theophylaktos every time. Sora knew that Phil wanted this to last, but he honestly didn't think he could.

Sora glanced around at Kairi, blinking with surprise when he realized that there were two glowing people sitting beside her. He realized that they must be Zeus and Hera. Then he realized that taking his eyes off of the Theo-guy was probably a bad idea. He wasn't that strong, but when his fist collided with Sora's cheek, the pain exploded in his head and he ended up flying to the ground.

Sora choked on the dirt that kicked up with his fall and quickly rolled out of the way as Theophylaktos tried to slam him again. Sora tossed his Keyblade into the air and his hands grabbed a hold of his fists. Theophylaktos was physically stronger then him, and Sora knew it.

"You know, Hercules would be really impressed with your skills," Sora grunted out.

"Really, you think?" Theophylaktos asked, excitement passing over his features.

"Sure," Sora said, his eyes latching on to the glint of gold behind the larger man. "Problem is, you're underestimating your opponent. A Keyblade never leaves its Master." Theophylaktos didn't stand a chance. At Sora's mental command, the Keyblade lashed out and crashed into his head, knocking him out.

Sora grunted a bit, trying to catch the heavy man as he fell. He looked back at Phil, who had his arms crossed, was tapping his foot on the ground, and looked less than impressed. Sora glanced up at Kairi, and somehow she seemed to understand him as she held up all the fingers on one hand. The match only lasted five minutes.

"Sorry," Sora muttered to Phil as he dragged Theophylaktos over. He dropped him by the satyr and said, "No way I could have drug that on without boring everyone. Now, I'm gonna go sit with Kairi."

"Get some ice for that shiner," Phil called after him before turning away. "Herc, drag this guy to the hospital cots or whatever."

Sora shook his head and made his way up to Kairi, Meg, Zeus and Hera. Sora stumbled over to them, barely acknowledging the God and Goddess, slumping down on to Kairi, his head throbbing now.

Kairi smirked a bit, moving her arm around his shoulder and pressing her lips to his bruised head. "You did great Sora."

"It was supposed to be entertaining," Sora said. "It was pathetic." He looked with interest as Roxas walked into the arena and looked over at his opponent, Draco. He instantly felt unnerved to see the man. Unlike Theophylaktos, Draco was skinny with short, black hair. There was something about him though that didn't sit right. "Roxas needs to be careful."

"Something's not right," Kairi murmured in agreement, watching Roxas summon both of his Keyblades as Draco pulled out two, long, sharp swords.

Sora watched as Roxas and this Draco character circle one another, calculating how the other would move. Kairi nudged him and cleared her throat, causing him to look around at her. She nodded her head towards Zeus and Hera.

"Oh," he said quickly, jumping to his feet. "Hi. I'm Sora, and you're Zeus and Hera, right?" Kairi groaned at how informal he sounded.

Zeus chuckled and said, "Sora, my boy, it's good to finally meet you. Hercules thinks the world of you." Zeus shook his hand enthusiastically. "That boy certainly got you good, didn't he?"

Sora winced as he rubbed his head. "Not the first time I've hurt my head."

Hera smiled warmly at him and said, "Thank you for helping our world as much as you have in the past."

"It's no problem," Sora said, looking fairly embarrassed. "I'd do it over again any day."

"Yes, well, perhaps I can do something to ease your worries in your journey. Kairi can you—"

"Roxas!"

Sora shot around at Kairi's scream. He looked down at the arena and let out a cry of surprise when he saw Roxas kneeling on the ground, his Keyblade on the ground and his hand to his head, red liquid seeping through his fingers.

"My god," Kairi gasped, her eyes wide. She heard Naminé scream from the sidelines and watched as the blonde was about to run to her boyfriend. Riku grabbed a hold of her though, knowing that if she helped Roxas, he'd be disqualified. It was a silly rule that Phil enforced, but Kairi knew why. It'd be so easy for them to cheat otherwise.

Draco lifted his sword to strike Roxas again, but he summoned Two Become One into his left hand and blocked the attack. He lowered his hand and summoned his second Keyblade, launching himself at Draco. Blood covered the right side of his face as he viciously slashed at the other man. Sora couldn't remember ever seeing his brother so vicious before.

"Where did Phil find these people?" Kairi asked, sounding positively scandalized.

"Got me," Meg answered. "I've been in some pretty shady places around here, and I've never seen him before."

"Roxas is going to murder him," Sora mumbled, watching his twin move quickly. Draco was an incredibly talented fighter, but not nearly as much as Roxas.

"I hope not," Kairi said. "We don't have a getaway ship."

Sora laughed at her words but didn't say anything about it. They watched as Roxas kicked Draco in the guy, slamming his Keyblade roughly into Draco's head, instantly knocking him out and causing blood to spout out of his nose. The entire arena was silent. This fight lasted longer than Sora's had, but none of them were sure that it was a good thing.

Naminé rushed out to the arena and wrapped her arms around Roxas. He dropped his Keyblades and slumped down. Hercules came out after her quickly, and picked up Roxas, rushing him inside. He was losing a lot of blood.

"Your brother will be fine," Hera said calmly. "While it's not her strongest point, his fiancé is does have enough of a grasp on healing for that."

"How'd you know?" Sora asked her curiously. "I didn't think that you met her before."

"I haven't," Hera agreed. "Once a person comes into this world though, we know a lot about them. As I was saying earlier, I wish to offer you something. Peace of mind."

Sora looked at her with confusion. The Goddess smiled, looked at Kairi, and said, "My magic is powerful. I can place a powerful, protective spell around your baby while it's still in your womb."

Meg coughed violently and looked around with them at surprise, but she said nothing.

Kairi's hand went over her stomach protectively and said, "What do you mean?"

"Stress can be horrible for a growing baby and it's mother," Hera answered. "You're duty is a stressful one. I am the goddess of many things, including air, marriage, women, women's fertility, and childbirth. Already I can see that your fertility has been tampered with."

Kairi nodded her head, almost feeling ashamed. Sora placed a hand on her shoulder and she leaned into him slightly.

"What will you do?" Sora asked Hera curiously.

"It won't be harmful, more like a magical barrier to lessen any possible damage from stress or trauma, mental or physical. It's painless, though you will probably gain weight a little quicker, and your child might be a little more active."

"It'll keep him or her safer though?" Kairi wondered in a quiet voice.

"Yes dear," Hera said. "We can do that tonight, after the tournament. You'll feel tired after it."

"Okay," Kairi agreed, sounding a little more enthusiastic than scared. "It sounds like a god idea, right Sora?" He didn't answer. "Sora?"

"I—what am I watching?" Sora asked, his attention turned to the arena. Kairi glanced down and blinked with surprise at what she saw. Riku was fighting a young man named Nikitas. He had short silver hair, the exact same build as Riku, and almost the same skin tone. Aside from the clothes, it was like Riku was fighting a mirror image.

"I—Riku has a long-lost Greek brother?" Kairi asked in an almost airy way.

"Give him a Keyblade and I think that we'd never see the end of this," Sora said.

There was really no other way that they could describe the fight going on in the arena. Nikitas not only looked a bit like Riku, but was just as talented with his sword as Riku was with his Keyblade. They were matching each other, move for move, and Sora knew that the only way Riku was going to pull this off was if he resorted to using the powers that only came with a Keyblade.

'_Do you know where they took that asshole?'_ Sora jumped slightly as he heard Roxas' voice in his head. They rarely ever communicated that way anymore, only when necessary.

'_No, why?'_ Sora asked.

'_So I can nearly gouge out his eye. I mean, I still have both, but I almost lost it.'_

'_You conscious, or stuck in your head?'_

'_Conscious. Naminé's fussing over me. Kinda nice, but she's a little hysterical.'_

'_Yeah, I'm not sure when she'll be called out,' _Sora informed him. _'Riku's fighting his Olympus-self and it's not really going anywhere.'_

'_You still up with Kairi and Meg?'_ Roxas asked.

'_Yeah. You coming up?'_

'_I think so. Phil's moving the tournament up a day. He's talking to everyone else here. These fights aren't what he thought they'd be, so he's having all of the first round today.'_

'_Cool.'_ Sora winced as Riku finally had enough of the fight, which lasted a good fifteen minutes so far, and a strong wave of dark magic was expelled from his Keyblade. Nikitas stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, out cold. '_Well, looks like Nam's up.'_

**VVVVVVV**

Naminé watched Roxas' retreating form as he headed towards where Sora, Kairi, Meg, Hera, Zeus, and now Riku were sitting. She took a deep breath, calming herself down. It was her time to shine, and she wasn't about to let herself fail while Sora, Roxas and Riku succeeded. She was determined to prove that girls could be just as good at fighting as boys.

Of course, she already knew that she was superior in spell casting, but she was going to take her hand with her physical strength first.

"Oh, I think I'm in the wrong side."

Naminé looked around and found herself staring at the broad chest of a young man. She took a step back before looking up at him. She really wondered what this world put in it's water, because this man was tall, broad shouldered, with muscles that weren't disgusting big, but definitely bigger than Riku's. He had short, dark brown hair and vivid green eyes.

And he was hot as hell.

Naminé's cheeks flushed and she coughed for a second before she said, "Hi. Umm…hi. Who—I mean what exactly were you looking for?"

He grinned at her charmingly and said, "My name's Alexander. I had no idea that my opponent was such a beauty."

Naminé giggled before calming herself and saying, "You can just follow that hallway around to your side."

"Thank you. It's a shame though, I was so looking forward to fighting a worthy competitor in this tournament."

Naminé's grin faded away and she asked, "Excuse me?"

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you."

Now a glare appeared on her features as she stared at his retreating form. Hot or not, he was a complete douchebag.

She was going to have fun whipping him into shape.

**VVVVVVV**

Kairi shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She couldn't understand why she felt so uncomfortable right now. There was no pain or anything like that, so she wasn't particularly concerned about the safety of her baby, but she kept feeling this odd almost fluttering feeling inside of her. At first, she thought it might have been from the embarrassing bouts of gas that came with pregnancy, or maybe hunger, but she soon concluded that it wasn't it.

At least when she was sick, tired and always hungry, she had a good idea what was going on with her body. Now she was still hungry (though she was controlling what she ate a little better), feeling weird at times, hormonal, and her mind was starting to create fantasies about nearly everything male that moved. Yes, Sora was always the forerunning in her involuntary thoughts, but sometimes she couldn't help but look at someone else and think—

Her thoughts got cut off as Naminé stormed into the arena, but it wasn't her cousin that caught her attention. It was the person she was fighting.

"Holy hell that's one hot—" she cut herself off when she realized that, because Meg was talking to Zeus and Hera, she was the only girl around. None of the boys, especially her boyfriend, would appreciate her appreciation of the specimen that Naminé was fighting.

Sora's eyes snapped to her for a moment before narrowing slightly and looking at the arena. "He looks like a complete pretty boy. I hope Naminé kicks his ass."

**VVVVVVV**

Naminé stared at Alexander, a determined look on her face as she studied him. He was waving to the crowds, being a complete showoff. She was going to knock him down a peg, or twenty. Preferably twenty.

She heard the noise to start the fight, and knew that her previous plans of trying to pull off a good physical fight were out of the question. That didn't mean that she wasn't going to bruise his pride.

"A lot of people are bigger than you," Roxas told her once. "So use your smaller size to your advantage." She was certainly planning on it.

Alexander rushed at her, and she dodged to the side, rolling as she summoned Chain of Memories to her hand. She jumped to her feet, spinning around just in time for her Keyblade to meet his staff. She blinked with surprise, expecting him to have a sword, but then she remembered that he planned on going easy on her.

Smug asshole.

Naminé ducked under Alexander and swung her leg, kicking out his from underneath him. She flipped away from him, grinning as he pushed himself up, spitting out dirt.

"Freeze!" she called out, freezing the ground and grinning as she watched Alexander slip and fall. She was purposely going out of her way to humiliate him.

He managed to slide himself across the ice before throwing himself at her. She blocked the strike and let out a surprised scream as he grabbed her arm with his free hand. He actually managed to throw her behind him, causing her to drop her Keyblade and crash into the ice. A scream escaped her throat as she felt the bone in her arm break, and she slid across the ice.

Alexander was running at her. She held out her good hand and summoned her Keyblade back, then she aimed at him and yelled, "Fire!" He was thrown backwards, and she melted the ice so that she could stand up without falling again. The adrenaline pumping through her body helped her ignore the pain in her arm as she rushed towards him. He didn't stand a chance.

"Time!"

Everything went in slow motion to Naminé, and to everyone else it looked like she was appearing and reappearing randomly. She launched herself at Alexander, knocked the weapon out of his hand and then knocked him to the ground. The magic wore off, and she was standing with the slight heel of her boot digging into his ribcage, the tip of her Keyblade on his chin.

"Sorry," Naminé said sweetly. "I had to go easy on you." She could hear the cheering, but now the pain was coming back to her arm. She backed away from him and stumbled to the ground.

"Nami." She looked up as Roxas appeared beside her, wrapping his arm around her but careful not to touch her arm.

"I kicked his ass good," Naminé said happily.

"It was a good fight," Alexander's voice rang out to her. They looked at him and said, "Next time, I won't go so easy on you."

Naminé was about to argue with him, but she winced as a flash of pain radiated from her broken bone. She heard some shuffling beside her and Kairi stepped in front of her. She heard Sora say something about getting Hercules, but she wasn't really sure what that meant.

"I'm sure my cousin could have wasted you earlier if she wanted to," Kairi said confidently.

Alexander eyed her before sending her a charming smile and said, "Well, too bad it wasn't you. I'd love to see what you can do on the…field. Redheads are a little more exotic, feistier."

Kairi raised an eyebrow at him, but she could also feel the blush rising on her face as she said, "Well, that aside, you didn't have to break her arm."

"I didn't mean to," he said before looking around. "So, what's a pretty thing like you doing in this place? You with anyone?"

She blinked with surprise at the question. It was obvious that she was here with her friends. So she decided to go with the sarcastic route. "No, not at all." She giggled a bit as he grinned, unable to stop herself. That definitely did not come out sarcastic, though that's how she meant it. She really hated her hormones.

"You feel like talking later? About the tournament?"

"Sure," Kairi said. It'd be nice to talk to someone different from a different world. Someone that Sora didn't know.

"I'll see you later," Alexander said with a grin and a wink before leaving.

She watched him leave and heard an angry cough from behind her. Kairi turned around and found herself staring at Sora's angry eyes. She was slightly startled to see the look, and was confused when she heard the venom in his voice. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Kairi asked with, utterly bewildered.

"Don't play dumb! You were flirting with him! You just agreed to go on a date with him and you told him you weren't with anyone!" Sora snapped.

"I—but I—I just—" She really didn't know what to say.

Sora already had an angry headache, he had a small argument with Phil over this whole tournament thing, and then he came back only to find his girlfriend denying that she was in a relationship and agreeing to go out with someone. He shook his head and said, "I don't want to hear it. You do whatever you want." He turned and stormed away.

"Sora!" she called after him, but he didn't even acknowledge that he heard her. Tears welded up in her eyes and felt anger rush through her. She quickly rushed towards her room before realizing that Sora might have gone there. Still, she wanted to lay down. She decided that her hormones were doing horrible things to her. Normally she could catch when a guy was hitting on her, but she was just so mentally discombobulated and frazzled lately (though she did an awesome job of hiding that from Sora), that she didn't even see it.

"I hate myself," she muttered rubbing stomach. "Your mommy is so stupid baby. So stupid."

**VVVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. As always, you guys are still awesome! So again, thank you to: xNINJABLADE45x, Trainalf, CommanderFlynn, EvilxLittlexNinja, Twilight Cardmistress, Q-A the Authoress, The 666th necrophiliac, Eddie Camp, SilverPaopu and wolvenlegend.

I have no excuse for why it took so long to update. I just didn't feel like writing anything and I feel like my interest in KH in waning for the moment.

I don't know when I'll update again, but I'll try to get one before Christmas.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	21. Speak of the Devil

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Twenty – Speak of the Devil _

"Pain! Panic!"

The two little demons shuddered with fear as Hades' yell echoed so loudly through the Underworld that the walls shook, and small pieces of rock fell from the ceiling. They quickly ran, finding him pacing back and fourth in his personal chamber. There was a ring of fire in the room, a huge creature trapped inside, like a pitch-black lion, roaring madly and trying to escape.

Pain and Panic both shrunk down at the sight of it.

"Tell me, do you know what this is?" Hades asked, sounding rather calm, but neither of them were fooled.

"One of those Heartless?" Panic suggested.

"Try again."

"A—what is it—Nobody?" Pain asked.

Hades laughed and said, "My pathetic minions. Nobodies, I can deal with Nobodies. And I Heartless are malleable, they listen to me. This? This is an abomination!" Hades roared angrily, his face turning orange, the flames shooting out his head.

"W-what's wrong with them?"

"What's wrong with them? Did you really—I'll tell you what's wrong with them!" Hades yelled. "Xehanort just thinks that he can waltz in and use these…freaks to take over my turf? Nuh uh, not happening! This is my world, and these things need to go."

"What about the ones heading for the the coliseum?" Panic asked before quickly hiding behind pain.

Hades turned back to his normal blue colour and looked thoughtful for a moment before he said, "We watch."

**VVVVV**

Kairi laid on the large bed that she and Sora shared the night before, curled up in the fetal position. She felt physically sick, and she was positive that her mind completely left her. Now she really wanted to get off of that world, tournament and Hercules be damned. She didn't interact with Sora for the rest of the day, he seemed to be avoiding her, but she didn't mind all that much. She wasn't sure what to do or say, because any explanation she came up with sounded like a horrible excuse that didn't make sense.

Somehow, Sora was able to convince Phil to return the tournament timeline to it's original schedule. Phil originally planned on spacing out the battles, but then wanted to condense them into a single day because of how quickly they were happening. Midori explained that Sora managed to convince him to drag it out a little longer, if only to give Roxas and Naminé more time to heal and the girls a chance to prepare better.

There was a knock at the door, but she ignored it. It continued, but she didn't acknowledge it. Finally, the door opened just enough for someone to slip in, and they closed the door behind them. Kairi felt the weight on the bed shift and felt a small, soft hand on her shoulder.

"Kairi, what's wrong? Meg told me that you've basically barricaded yourself in here since yesterday, only coming out to get something to eat," Kairi heard Naminé said.

The redhead turned her body on the bed to look at her cousin, glad to see that she was alright and cast-free, despite Alexander having broke her arm. She wiped her tear-filled eyes and said, "I'm so stupid Nam. I mean literally."

"What happened?'

"You know that guy you fought yesterday?"

"Hot, asshole, Alexander?" Naminé asked, though it was a rhetorical question, because she literally couldn't forget him if she tried. She couldn't even attempt to erase the memories because she needed to know what she was erasing to erase it, but if she started to erase the memories then she wouldn't know and she couldn't erase them. It was a paradox that she realized once, and it drove her mad.

"Yeah him." Kairi was unaware of her cousins maddening, mental thoughts. "He was flirting with me. I kinda knew that, but at the same time, it didn't hit me. He asked me some questions, and I dunno. He asked if I was with anyone and I thought—well I dunno what he thought but I was trying to be sarcastic but it ended up turning out like I was saying that I wasn't with Sora and agreed to go on a date with him but all I meant is that maybe I could take to him later. Naminé, I'm so stupid."

"Oh, Kairi," Naminé said as she sighed and laid down on her back beside her. "What's going on with you? You always know when people are hitting on you."

"It's my hormones. Seriously, I know that around your fourth month things change and all, but all I really want to do is jump everything with a penis. Obviously the only one I ever would is Sora, and you know, he's the main one in my thoughts but holy hell the rest of me is just completely out of whack. Instead of being sarcastic I was giggling Naminé. Giggling like a pathetic school girl. Nam, I had sex with him like two days ago and I feel like it's been a thousand months! I need help."

Naminé laid beside her in silence before she said, "Do you want to get cleaned up and go watch the rest of the tournament today? Sora's not going to be there, at least not in the stands. He's staying with Midori, Mulan, Hercules and Emiliana, so he can be ready to run onto the field at a moment's notice. You guys do need to talk, but you don't need to be a mind reader to see how much this tournament is stressing him now, so it's probably best to give him a bit of space.

Do you want to get cleaned up and go back and watch the rest of the tournament? I know Sora's not there. You guys need to talk, but you need to give him just a bit of time, okay?"

Kairi was still for a moment, and then she nodded her head and sat up, "Well, laying around here won't do be any good. I need to get a shower or something first though, I feel disgusting...and puffy. By the way, how did you heal your arm? I thought you were still working on that?"

Naminé shook her head. "It wasn't me. Another, more advanced healer fixed it for me. I'm not good enough at healing magic to heal bones or things inside your body. Skin, just below the skin, and stuff like that, I can do, but no major organs or bones."

Kairi nodded her head as she got up and looked at her reflection. She frowned at herself and said, "Yes, I think I need a shower."

"I agree, you reek," Naminé said with a nod.

"Naminé!"

The blonde shrugged and said, "I believe in honesty. You know that. Now get ready. Maybe we'll see Alexander and you can set the record straight.

Kairi groaned, knowing that Naminé was just teasing her now and said, "Really Nami, you might wanna wait for your wedding night until after we deal with Xehanort. God knows what he could somehow do to you. We don't even know how he messed with me, and we don't need two of us running around pregnant. I think it'd drive everyone mad."

Naminé shook her head and said, "I'm not nervous. This has to do with you and Sora. I dunno why, but I know it does. Come on now, let's go watch people beat each other up before Sora succeeds in stopping it." At Kairi's curious look she clarified what she was talking about. "He's not happy that Roxas nearly got his eye hacked out and that my arm was broken in what was just supposed to be a small tournament. He's made it his personal goal to get this shut down, but Phil is just as stubborn, saying that it's a tournament and this type of thing happens and we all signed up for it willingly."

Kairi nodded her head and said, "Do you get the feeling that something is off with this whole thing?"

With a nod, the blonde said, "Yeah, I really do."

**VVVVV**

Sora stood at the entrance of the coliseum, staring out at the arena of excited people. Apparently they enjoyed the tournament from the day before much more than Sora, or even Phil for that matter, expected. Not for the first time, he wondered why seeing others get injured seemed to fascinate people, but Sora knew that he would probably never get an answer to that question.

In a way, he was taking on the responsibility for all of the other Keyblade Bearers. Sora was the only actual Keyblade Master there, the one with the most experience, and he was the one who agreed to the tournament that the others were being injured in.

Sora looked around the stands, his eyes focusing on the spot where Zeus and Hera were sitting, disguised from almost everyone. He wished that they would intervene, but he knew that they wouldn't. It wasn't a God's job to jump in to alter everything that happened. It was their job to keep the overall scheme of things on the right track.

Already, Roxas, Riku and Meg were sitting with the two gods. Sora was more than relieved to see that his twin made a full recovery, as had Naminé. As if reading his mind, the blonde suddenly came into view, her redheaded cousin walking with her. Sora felt a twinge of annoyance pass thorough him as he stared at Kairi, but he wasn't mad at her anymore. He knew that she was honestly confused about his accusations, and was horrified by what happened, he could feel that coming from her. He found it more than odd though, and was starting to think that she was either slightly insane, or pregnancy was making her slightly insane. Sora wondered if that was even possible. Either way, he made it his goal to talk to her later, after the death-trap of a tournament was over.

Sora looked back around at the group behind him, all newer Keyblade Bearers and said, "Okay guys, I dunno where Phil found these people, but not all of them are playing friendly. Just be careful, okay? We don't want anyone out of the game yet." He was slightly surprised when he didn't get a sarcastic quip from Midori, or a nasty one from Emiliana. In fact, both of them looked slightly nervous.

Phil came over to them and said, "We've got some more though guys on the other side.

Mulan is up first against Than, then Midori against Seth, Emiliana against Allair, and Herc, you're going up against Cyrus as a closer for today. Got it?"

"Where did you find these people Phil?" Sora asked him, crossing his arms in front of him. "In a tavern or something?"

"Well…"

"Really?" he sighed and shook his head. He glanced at everyone else and said, "Be careful." He turned and made his way back towards where the rest were watching.

Mulan summoned her Keyblade to her hand and said, "I'll fight with honour, as should everyone." She took a deep breath as she walked out into the arena.

They eyed her opponent, a tall muscular figure with bright orange hair that was impossible to miss. Emiliana's eyes narrowed and a look of distaste appeared on her face as she folded her arms in front of her and said, "There's something about him that I don't like."

Midori cast her a wary look before following her gaze and saying, "As much as it physically pains me to agree with you, I have to agree with you. Mulan needs to be careful."

"She's a Keyblade Bearer too," Hercules reminded them. "We have to believe that she can handle herself."

**VVVVV**

Mulan stared at her opponent, who grinned at her in what would have been almost charming if it wasn't for the fact that he gave off bad vibes. His hair was such an odd colour. The vibrant orange colour was one that she never came across before, and his hazel eyes gave the impression that he was trying to be friendly, but there was definitely something dark in him.

"Don't expect me to go easy on you because you're a girl," he said to Mulan, startling her a bit. There was an a tone to his voice that set her on edge, like he thought it was a game.

They heard a loud sound echoing through the arena, and Than instantly shot towards Mulan, sword raised high, and she instinctively brought her Keyblade into a defensive position, ready to spring out of the way, but at the last second, he jerked to the side and away from her.

Mulan spun around in time to see him rush at her again, but he feinted away from her again.

On the stands, Sora's eyes narrowed and Roxas asked, "What the hell is he doing?"

"He's trying to confuse her," Riku answered, his eyes trailing the figure.

"Oh man, oh man, I wish I could be down there!" Mushu said. "I mean, I know my girl can kick ass, but there's something I don't like about him."

Kairi instantly took Mushu into her arms to try and calm him down.

Sora watched as Than's weapon collided with Mulan's finally. He saw her legs shake from the sheer strength of his weapon, but then he just jerked back and circled around her again. He slowly shook his head and said, "He could have knocked her weapon out of her hand."

"Why didn't he?" Meg wondered out loud.

"He's playing with her," Naminé answered for Sora, having come to the same conclusion. "I don't like it."

Hera looked at Zeus and said, "I can't feel anything from him. Nor a few of the others here."

"They're hidden by some higher powers from their own worlds," Zeus answered. He did come across that before, but it always put him a bit on edge. He liked knowing exactly what was going on with his world.

Mulan wasn't stupid by any means. She came to the same conclusion that Sora and Naminé had, and she didn't like it.

She lowered her weapon.

"That's a good girl," Than toyed with her. "Just sit back and let me win like a woman should."

Her eyes narrowed, watching as he rushed towards her again. That was when she moved quickly. She threw her Keyblade at him, the powerful weapon spinning in the air. He jerked to the side to avoid it, but Mulan was faster than he was. He didn't see her coming as she practically threw herself into the air, but he did feel her foot collide with his face.

Than fell to the ground with an angry cry, his hands clutching his face, and Mulan landed with a graceful somersault, spinning around to face her opponent as her Keyblade appeared in her hand.

"My face!" he roared angrily. "You bitch!" His angry eyes turned to her's, and he grabbed his sword again, swinging it at her.

Mulan blocked the first attack, but grunted as his foot collided with her stomach. She stumbled to the ground, her Keyblade flinging out of her hand. Mulan just barely managed to roll out of the way as his sharp sword crashed into the ground where she was a second ago.

Summoning back her weapon, she swung it around and it met his with a loud bang that echoed around them, neither paid attention to it though, trying to overpower the other.

Than brought his weapon into the air and brought it down on her Keyblade again and again.

Mulan used both of her hands to steady her weapon and moved her legs so that she wouldn't be knocked down easily. She couldn't help but be confused though, because this stance left nearly all of her lower-body exposed to attack, but he wasn't even paying attention to that.

A wave of realization passed through her when she looked closely at him. There was a burning, wild rage in his eyes, and it instantly put her on edge. He was like a mad, wild animal now, and she instantly knew that she didn't want to stay too close to him. She'd have to stick with long-range attacks.

When he raised his sword in the air to strike at her again, she jerked out of the way quickly. Mulan put several meters of distance between them before spinning around and yelling, "Fire!"

The explosion of flames and heat that came from her Keyblade blasted across the arena quickly, and the people in the front rows had to cover their faces from the heat that it generated.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Mushu cried out happily as he climbed onto Kairi's shoulder and stood up.

"Fire's definitely her strength," Kairi said, leaning onto Naminé slightly.

Naminé nodded her head and said, "I'm good with magic all around, but she seems to be concentrated on one aspect. It makes her stronger than me with fire magic. You can tell."

Mulan narrowed her eyes as she saw Than move slightly on the ground, his body and armour covered in scorch marks. She felt the hairs on her neck stand on end when he started laughing hysterically. It was the sound of a mad man with nothing left to lose.

He pushed himself up and said, "You wanna play with magic? You don't need a Keyblade for that." He slammed his sword into the ground and yelled, "Earth!"

Mulan was thrown backwards as the ground under her feet exploded. She let out a gasping breath as the wind was knocked out of her when she collided with the earth that rose from the ground, and then turned to move, but found that she was unable to. Mulan looked around with panic, only to find that her arms were bound in the earth. Than rushed at her, weapon raised.

Kairi let out a scream and covered her eyes, Mushu could only stare in horror, Namine and Meg both cried out in shock, Riku and Roxas gaped in horror, and Sora actually jerked up, standing and staring in horror.

Mulan looked up only to see a sharp blade coming down towards her head. She knew that it would kill her. She squeezed her eyes shut, gripped her Keyblade tightly (though she still couldn't move her hand) and yelled, "Protect!"

The magical barrier appeared at the last second. It collided with the magic protecting her, but it was so close that the blade still hit her. The barrier did lighten the blow. It was still powerful enough to knock her out, but the blade didn't even scratch her skin.

Than was thrown backwards, but he pushed himself off of the ground, grinning broadly. He won. He beat a Keyblade Bearer.

**VVVVV**

"What the fuck Phil?"

The satyr jumped and looked around, instantly wary. He remembered seeing Sora angry before, but never once had he seen him looking quite so ready to strangle someone who wasn't an actual enemy.

"Look kid—"

"No, you look," Sora snapped at him. "I don't know where the fuck you found these guys, but it really makes me wonder if you really are on our side. This was just supposed to be a small tournament for fun and to bring people into the coliseum. My brother almost had his eye gouged out, Naminé had her arm broken, and the guy who did that then started instantly hitting on my girlfriend, and now this other guy almost killed Mulan!"

"Sora!" Kairi cried out as she caught up to them, moving in between Sora and Phil. She pressed her hands against his chest and said, "Calm down."

Sora ignored her, gently pushed her to the side as he moved closer to Phil and nearly snarled at him. "What did you do, find the nastiest people you could just because we're the Keyblade Bearers? Is that it?"

"It's not like that kid. They just seemed like normal people wanting a chance to compete. Most of 'em were around the coliseum for a while, looking for a tournament. I knew this and told them about it," Phil defended himself. "I didn't know one would restrain the girl."

"Shouldn't he be disqualified?" Roxas asked as he approached them. Riku, Naminé, Meg and Hercules were out with Mulan and Mushu (who was being incredibly dramatic), as was Roxas, but he came in to see what was going on. The next match was postponed.

Phil looked almost hesitant to answer, and Sora laughed bitterly and said, "It's not. There are no real rules here. He's not going to get punished at all for this, cause it wasn't considered cheating, even though it should be." He was silent for a moment before saying, "It's over, Phil."

"What?"

"You heard me. We're all out. We tried to help you out, and you set us some of us up with the worst possible people here," Sora stated, suddenly sounding oddly calm.

"Sora," Midori spoke up from where she was standing silently, observing, "is that a good idea?"

"Can you even say that for everyone?" Emiliana asked, raising an eyebrow as she turned from watching Hercules help carry Mulan away without interest, Riku, Naminé and Meg going with him.

"Funny thing, last time I checked, Keyblade Master was above Keyblade Bearer," Sora answered, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "Not good enough? How about I call King and leave it at that." He wouldn't normally use any sort of title to try and get his way, but he was really being pushed to the limits here.

Midori came up to him and said, "I want to fight in the tournament."

Sora looked about ready to lash out at her, so Kairi came forward and asked, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Yes," she answered confidentially. "I want the chance to show that guy that if he messes with one of us, he messes with all of us."

"Revenge?" Roxas asked almost skeptically.

"No, not revenge," she said with a shake of her head. "Avenge."

Emiliana suddenly walked towards them, folding her arms in front of her and saying, "I'm in too." She didn't seem to care that Midori and Kairi were both staring at her with surprise, both already deciding that they didn't like the brunette girl. "I don't care much about Mulan, but I don't like them."

Sora sighed and his eyes met Kairi's. He frowned and said, "Okay. But if anyone wants out, they're allowed. I'm out though."

"Me too," Roxas agreed. "I doubt Naminé will keep going."

"So we have Hercules, Emiliana and Midori left to fight. That asshole is already in unfortunately, so even if Riku decides that he's out, there'll still be enough for Phil's semi finals and finals." Sora whirled around at looked at the satyr who was desperately trying to get away. "This is the last time that any Keyblade Bearers, at least when they're with me, are participating in anything like this Phil. Got it? Not even training with you." With that, he stormed away.

"He's angry," Kairi said to Phil. "He'll cool down eventually Phil, don't worry."

"You gonna go with him?" Roxas asked her.

Kairi shook her head and said, "It's probably best if we leave him alone."

"Okay," he nodded. Looking around at the two girls he said, "Kai and I will be in the stands with Zeus and Hera. Be careful. Come on Kai." The redhead smiled encouragingly to them and followed the blond.

"Hey um," Phil stuttered. "Watch these guys, okay? You're first Midori." He rushed out, and across the arena to the other door so that he could tell the remaining two that the tournament was still on.

Midori and Emiliana watched a short, but very muscular man walk out. She smiled bitterly when she saw his dark green hair and said, "That's something I've seen before."

Emiliana raised an eyebrow at her before rolling her eyes slightly and asking, "Think you can take him?"

"Think I can't?" she challenged.

"Wanna make it interesting?" the brunette asked. Her grape eyes glinted almost maliciously as she said, "Whoever beats their opponent the fastest gets quality time with Riku. Whoever loses has to back off, at least for a while."

"Why would that interest me?" Midori tried to play it off, but Emiliana was just smirking at her. She sighed and said, "You're on."

They shook hands and Emiliana motioned towards the arena. "Better get going. Clock's ticking."

"Watch and learn," the raven-haired woman said to the younger one.

**VVVVV**

Kairi sighed as she watched Midori walked out into the arena confidently. Roxas glanced over at her and asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, just a bit worried about…well…everyone." She leaned back slightly, resting her hand on her stomach. "I don't want anyone else to get hurt, and Sora's in such a horrible mood that I'm scared he's going to do something, and every once and a while I just get these weird feelings. I thought we might get some type of break while waiting for the ship."

Roxas' eyebrows furrowed before he asked, "What kind of weird feelings?"

"Oh, well," she blushed slightly, "I'm not always sure if it's gas or I'm hungry or what. It's just weird." She saw the strange look on his face and asked, "What?"

"You mean like the feeling of something moving inside of you?" he asked, awe appearing on his face.

Kairi stared at him with wide eyes before sitting up straight. "I never even thought about that. I…holy…umm Hera?" She timidly looked at the Goddess. "Do you think that's possible?"

"Well, most of the time first time mothers don't feel their child move until they're around twenty weeks or so, but everyone is different. I'm fairly confident that this is one of the exceptions to that," the pink-tinted goddess smiled at her.

Kairi looked stunned as she looked out, watching Phil speak to both Midori and her opponent, someone named Seth. Roxas placed a hand on her shoulder and asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just—it's just weird," she admitted. "I—wow—I can feel her moving."

"Her?"

Kairi shrugged and said, "Doesn't seem right calling her an 'it'. Especially since she's moving around in here. I have no idea if it's actually a she or a he. I won't even have the option of finding out for a little while longer." They both jumped slightly as the match began, neither expecting the loud sound that Kairi wanted to say was a gong, but she was pretty sure that it wasn't.

She watched, hoping and praying that Midori would be okay. She had a feeling that it wouldn't do much good here though, because Zeus wasn't about to interfere, having mentioned in passing that it wasn't his spot to step into things like this.

"Please be okay."

**VVVVV**

Midori vaguely heard Phil talking, but she never took her eyes from Seth's steel-like ones. She didn't back down though, sending him a dark glare of her own. She was determined to win, even if it meant playing a little bit dirty.

Midori knew that there was no reason to play dirty this time around.

She heard the signal for the match to behind, and didn't even give Seth a chance to blink as she shot forward and swung her Keyblade at him. He managed to block her, but that didn't deter Midori in the least. She swung her weapon again and again, keeping Seth on the defense the entire time.

"What in god's name are you doing?" Seth demanded after a moment, grunting as he sidestepped her. "Trying to wear yourself out?"

"Not even close," Midori answered. As she swung her weapon, the teeth of her Keyblade skimmed across his bare arm. With something like the Kingdom Key, that wouldn't have mattered, but given that the teeth of her Keyblade were designed to look like curved sunbeams and ended in razor sharp tips, it left a series of bloody cuts on his arm.

Seth let out a howl of pain and swung the staff in his hand. He hit her in the side, throwing her to the ground and brought his weapon down towards her. Midori blocked the attack with her Keyblade and kicked his feet out from under him and rolled over before he could fall on her.

Midori jumped to her feet, her Keyblade vanishing so that she could push herself up quickly. Seth swung his staff around, but Midori ended up grabbing it in her hands. She flinched a bit from the harsh contact, but managed to kick her foot up and slam it into his hand. He howled in pain and let go of his weapon.

She pulled the staff from him and spun it around in her hand with ease, smirking slightly. "After a Keyblade, I'm best at fighting with these. Long story involving another me." She jumped away from him and tossed his staff in the air, summoning her Keyblade and destroying the weapon before her own Keyblade vanished.

Up in the stands, Roxas leaned forward and asked, "What the hell is she doing?"

Kairi eyed them critically before smirking a bit and saying, "Roxas, Midori lived with you and Sora. Tell me, what did she do while we were all at school?"

"She taught a—oh—ohh," Roxas repeated, his eyes widening in understanding. "She's going to kick his ass."

Back in the arena, Seth pushed himself up and Midori said, "What's wrong, afraid of a bit of hand-to-hand combat?"

"I was hoping not to hurt you too much sweetheart, if you insist though." His fist shot out, and she ducked underneath him.

They traded punches, some landing, some not. Midori had to admit, it had been a while since she fought someone who could give her a good fight. The men on Destiny Islands always tried to go really easy on her, and the women weren't really built as fighters there.

Midori realized a split second too late that she lost focus. Seth got behind her and grabbed her from behind, but she used it to her advantage.

Everyone watched in awe as she flipped him over her shoulder and twisted his arm back so that he couldn't move. If he tried, he would probably break it.

"Midori wins!" Phil called out, deciding to just call the match before anyone got too injured. Midori let go of him and backed up a few steps, grinning a bit. She looked back at Emiliana, who was leaning against the door, not looking impressed in the least. She knew that Phil kept track of how long the matches were, so she'd check after Emiliana went.

Midori glanced back at Seth one last time, sending him a hard glare before turning and walking towards the stands.

**VVVVV**

Riku was surprised to see that the tournament was still going on. He thought that Sora was going to rip Phil apart earlier, he was that angry. Still, he went to look for Kairi and Roxas, and saw that a short man was being dragged away, obviously beaten. Shrugging it off, he finally located his friends again, and stared with surprise when he saw Midori just walking up to them, bruises visible on her body.

"What the hell?"

She whipped around, staring at him with slightly surprise. Roxas looked up at them and said, "You should have seen it! She kick his ass! With her fists!"

"I thought we were stopping this after Mulan?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the older girl. "Looks like he got you good too."

Midori shrugged and said that, "I can handle myself. I asked Sora if I could keep going. He said to go for it…after a while." She sat down, wincing a bit before grinning sheepishly. "I may be a little sore though."

Riku rolled his eyes and sat down next to her, staring at her critically. "You shouldn't have risked it."

"I'm fine mother hen," she replied, patting him on the head. "Don't worry your pretty silver head about me."

He looked down at the arena and raised an eyebrow. "Emiliana is actually fighting?"

"Yup," a wicked gleam appeared on the tanned woman's face. "I hope that she takes longer than I did."

Everyone gave her weird looks.

"Why?" Kairi asked, as if she was insane.

"No reason."

The redhead looked at Roxas and said, "She's strange some times."

"Don't I know it? You didn't live with her."

"I'd like to see what she can really do," Kairi said, nodding to Emiliana as she summoned her Keyblade to get ready for her fight.

"Don't judge her by her looks, even Midori has to admit that she's tough," Roxas said.

"That's right, you fought that Dragon Endless with her. What happened—"

"No," Roxas and Midori said in sync before looking around as the match began.

**VVVVV**

Much could be said about Emiliana, most of it not necessarily positive. She was a vain girl, very self-motivated, and she tended to judge things and people quickly. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind and was always honest, even if it hurt people. She also didn't take failure very well. She was a determined girl who knew what she wanted, and she always got it. She wasn't a stupid girl by any means.

Emiliana believed in taking any advantage that she could find. If it meant being cold, she would be colder than the deepest ocean, if it meant being a flirt, she batted her eyelashes, and if it meant playing dirty, she'd be the first one to not hesitate.

She judged her opponent quickly. The only word that she could say that accurately described him was average. He wasn't tall, he wasn't short, he wasn't muscular, he wasn't skin and bones, he wasn't handsome, and he wasn't ugly. He was just plain. Even his name, Allair, didn't really stand out. She didn't like that. If he was someone like that Alexander guy that Naminé fought, she could use his own ego against him, and if it was someone like that Theo-whateveritwas guy that Sora fought, she could use his obvious self-esteem issues (he obviously had them, trying to be so much like Hercules and failing). This guy was going to be hard to break, hard to play mind games with.

Emiliana made a judgment call quickly as the match started. She wasn't going to be able to play mind games this time. Outright kicking his ass it was.

The match began, and she barely had the chance to blink before he launched himself, sword and all, at her. Emiliana quickly flipped backwards, landing neatly on one knee, springing herself forward with her Keyblade in hand. He blocked her, a loud clang echoing through the arena as their weapons collided violently. Allair glared at her heatedly, but she just smiled.

Then her knee collided with his gut. He grunted and stumbled away from her before practically growing like a wild animal and launching himself at her again. She let out a yelp of pain as his sword nicked her arm, stumbling away from him and looking at the ugly welt it left behind. She glared at him and said, "I don't like scars."

"Why's a superficial bitch like you even doing in a tournament like this?" Allair said to her, his eyes narrowing.

Now this was interesting. He was trying to play her and get under her skin. If only he knew exactly what he was getting in to.

She gave him no warning as she lunged at him, slamming her Keyblade rapidly into his weapon, almost like Midori had before her. She wasn't trying to force the weapon out of his hand though. She was trying to provoke him into making a mistake. Though this Allair person was plain, she now pegged him as being prideful.

Now she had something to work with. Her gaze shifted up to where the other Keyblade Bearers sat. Unfortunately, she had a time limit. No time for games.

She moved to kick away from him, but he seemed to predict her movement and ended up grabbing her leg. She ended up falling, but, somehow within the split second her feet left the ground, she managed to kick her other leg up to go around his neck, dragging him to the ground with her painfully in the most awkward position to most people.

Up in the stairs, Riku stared at the scene with a torn look. He wasn't sure if he wanted to be confused, or fascinated. He leaned back, motioning to Roxas to do the same without Kairi or Midori noticing. They were leaning so that they could see each other behind the girls' backs, but neither of them noticed.

"What just happened?"

"Hell if I know. He tried to trip her, she turned into a human pretzel."

They both looked back as she somehow managed to roll out of the odd position, summoning her Keyblade once again and attacking, Allair just barely managing to block her this time.

Roxas glanced at Riku with a raised eyebrow, and they came to a silent agreement that neither of them could keep silent for long.

"You have to admit," Riku said, lowering his voice as he glanced at Midori. "Girlfriend or not, that was kinda hot."

Roxas subtly looked back at the arena before saying, "No." At Riku's confused look, he knew he needed to clarify before any more gay jokes were tossed about. "Watching a water fight, on the beach, on a hot day, between Naminé and Kairi, in bikinis, is just hot. The fact that Emiliana can move her body around like she can turn her bones into rubbing is _fucking_ hot."

First glancing to make sure that neither girl heard, they both grinned and bumped their fists together. Yes, there were definitely times that Riku and Roxas got along. After all, Sora was so whipped that he never would have agreed outwardly.

Back in the actual arena, Emiliana was quickly becoming annoyed and bored with Allair. There was no time to play mind games, no time to have fun with the situation, so she wasn't really interested with the fight. She was just interested with finishing the fight as quickly as she could.

She blocked him with the blunt edge of her blade before flipping out of the way, pointing her weapon at him and yelling, "Freeze!" A blast of ice, not nearly as powerful as anything Naminé could throw, but still a nice shot, crashed into him, freezing his arms and upper torso.

Allair glared at her, trying to move his arms but unable to, though he could still walk (albeit, awkwardly). She just smirked smugly and said, "Ironic, isn't it? You like playing with ice." She tossed her Keyblade up into the air silently, and it was like an array of razor sharp leaves rained down on him. He actually let out a cry of pain as the harmless looking leaves left small cuts and welts everywhere on him.

"I'm out."

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow and said, "You're not one for pain, are you?"

"I'm out, you win."

Emiliana looked around at Phil, who shrugged at her before calling the match. She just shook her head before heading up to the stands. That was even a rather pathetic ending from her point of view.

She made her way up to everyone else, and realized that Roxas was staring at her oddly. "What?"

"You were like a freaking Bulbasaur."

"Excuse me?"

"You used razor leaf."

Emiliana stared at him oddly, her vibrant purple eyes visibly judging him. "Aren't you a little old for Pokemon?"

He snorted with disbelief and said, "No one's ever too old for Pokemon. Besides, I'm going to have to teach my nephew the proper way to be a Pokemon Master. None of this Osha-ma-thingy-stuff. He needs to know that Mewtwo will wreck you." He patted Kairi's belly, and she smacked his hand away.

"I told you," she sounded a little more cross than she should have. "I don't know if she's a girl or a boy."

He shrugged and said, "I figured we could mess people up be everything calling him different genders. Someone has to be right, right? Unless he's transgendered."

"Don't even joke," Kairi groaned, leaning back. "You are truly two-years-old."

Emiliana slowly tore her eyes from them before looking at Midori and asking, "How long was that?"

The raven-haired woman pressed her lips together before standing up and saying, "Not sure, lets go ask Phil who finished faster."

"Were you two competing to get a better time?" Riku asked suspiciously.

"No," Midori answered instantly.

Emiliana, on the other hand, giggled and winked at him. "Does it matter? Just a small competition between…friends. Right…Midi?"

"Oh yes," she answered back in the same fake, sickly sweet voice that Emiliana had used while saying her nickname. "Just the best of friends, Emi." She threw her arm around the girl's shoulder, which Emiliana reciprocated, and the two walked down the stairs to see Phil.

"If I ever meet you in a dark ally, I'm going to kick your ass," Midori said while keeping her fake smile on her face.

"If I ever meet you alone in a brightly lit corridor of the gummi ship, I'll kick yours," Emiliana replied sweetly as they went over to Phil, moving away from one another. "Hey, satyr, we have a question."

"What can I do for ya, sweet cheeks?" Phil asked her, not caring that she called him just satyr.

"We know you record the times, so who's match ended first, mine or tree head here?" Emiliana asked, nodding towards Midori, who glared at her.

Phil looked at his sheet in front of him and said, "Actually, it was pretty amazing. You two had identical timing."

There was a pause before the two girls spoke in sync. "What?"

"Down to the millisecond. Impressive. It was like you planned it."

They looked at one another before Midori said, "Looks like he's still fair game."

"Oh, I don't play fair," Emiliana replied before walking back to the stands.

"Good thing I don't mind getting my hands dirty either," Midori muttered, going to sit with everyone else.

Hercules watched the two girls leave, having just arrived for his round in the tournament. He glanced down at Phil and asked, "What was that about?"

"A cat-fight in the making, and I hope I'm there when it breaks out," Phil said with a grin. "Alright Champ, to close this round, you need to—"

Phil got cut off as a huge explosion rocked the grounds. People screamed and ducked, and Hercules looked around to see where it came from. He groaned and said, "The underworld. If it's Hades, I have to deal with it, you know that Phil. It can't wait. Sorry."

"But—I—" Phil didn't really know what to say as his last hope for salvaging the tournament rushed away. "I really hate Keyblades."

**VVVVV**

Sora was lying in his large, comfortable bed, trying to rest off his headache, when he too heard the explosion and jerked up. His first gut reaction was to run and see if Kairi was okay, but he knew in his heart that she was fine. Possibly slightly startled, but nothing beyond that.

He jumped off of the bed, rushing outside and groaning when he saw dust rising from the place that he knew housed the entrance to the Underworld. Here he honestly thought that he might get through a few days in Olympus without running into Hades.

Sora could have ignored it, but he decided to go check it out anyway. On the way there, he literally ran into Hercules.

They approached the gateway and Sora looked around curious before asking, "What happened here?"

It didn't look like Hades was sending up a monster or anything else. To be honest, it didn't really look like anything happened aside from an accidental explosion. Since when were explosions accidental when Hades was possibly around though.

"No idea," Hercules answered, looking just as confused. "Keyblades out?"

"Keyblades out," Sora agreed, and both of them summoned their weapons. Though this was Hercules' home world, Sora took the lead, slowly walking towards the huge caverns that led down to Hades' domain.

Everything was silent until a single, very strange creature appeared. Sora squinted at it, not quite sure what to make of it. At first glance, it looked like a Heartless because of the way it rose out of the ground like a Shadow or NeoShadow, and it was entirely black. The thing one, it was tall, taller than Sora, but it was skinny, like a skeleton with just a little bit of flesh left, and it had long, jagged claws on both it's toes and fingers.

For a second, Sora could practically see the claws scraping at a window, feeling a wave of confusion and fear. It left quickly, but it left him feeing confused and woozy.

"Is that an Endless?" Hercules asked.

"Yeah." Sora realized that his friend was staring at him oddly. "What?"

"Your voice, for a second there, you sounded more like Roxas than yours."

Sora just shrugged, slowly approaching the Endless, which didn't seem to care about him at all. He quickly found out why.

"I. SAID. GET. OUT."

Sora jumped backwards, tripping over his own feet and falling on the ground. He blinked with confusion as a fireball shot out of the cave that led to the Underworld, crashing into the creature. The Endless let out an inhuman screech of pain, disintegrated into ashes.

"What just happened?" Sora asked, pushing himself to his feet.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say Hades—"

"GET OUT!"

Hades himself appeared with two more Endless in his hands, throwing them to the ground and incinerating them. He was bright orange with rage, and both Keyblade Bearers stared at him skeptically.

Hercules was the first to break out of his stupor, moving towards the God of the Underworld and demanded, "What are you up to Hades?"

"What? Can't a god rage and born things without being questioned?" Hades asked, suddenly sounding rather unbothered. Before Hercules could answer, Pain and Panic appeared beside Hades.

"They're all out of the Underworld your evilness." Originally, they went to see how the people of Olympus would react to the Endless, but the creatures decided that they wanted to remain in the Underworld. A truly stupid plan, since the God of the Underworld hated their existence almost as much as he hated Hercules'.

"Excellent." He looked around and a thoroughly confused Sora and Hercules. "What are you shmucks looking at?"

"Those Endless…aren't working with you?"

"Hey, hey, don't get any sappy thoughts about me being on your side," Hades said, as he faced them. "I'm bad, but I have my standards. Those things, I don't like 'em. Xehanort releases them here like he owns the place. Bah, what does he know? Heartless, I like em, Nobodies I tolerate, and I just don't care about those weird Unversed that came when those Ven, Terra and Aqua kids were around. Endless, they are stains in my Underworld." An explosion of bright orange fire appeared from him again.

"You really don't like them," Hercules said, lowing his Keyblade, and still looking confused. It wasn't like Hades at all.

"Hey, if I want to cause trouble, I'll cause trouble. I don't do it on demand. What's with Keyboy there?"

Sora was giving him a rather stunned look, and managed to say, "You remember them? You remember Ven?"

"Looks pretty much identical to that strange blond kid that showed up a few years ago and is here now? What's it to you?"

"He was—I was told that he was my older brother," Sora reluctantly answered. It wasn't something that he wanted to share with Hades, of all people, but it sounded like he had some answers.

Sure enough, a wicked grin appeared on his face, "You were told? You don't remember, just like everyone else. See, I'm a god, little memory wiping spells don't effect me. I'll make you a deal. I'll tell you all you want to know about Venny and you—"

"No," Hercules said sternly, stepping in between them. "I don't know what's going on, but whatever it is Sora, there are other ways to get answers. Don't risk yourself getting hurt, not when everyone else needs you. Hades isn't a problem right now."

"You're right," Sora answered glumly. He lowered his Keyblade and turned his back on Hades, walking away.

"That's it? This is the most anticlimactic meeting we've ever had!" Sora heard Hades call, but he ignored him, knowing that Hercules could handle the dark god. His headache was coming back, this time accompanied by a bit of what he could only describe as heartache.

"Ven," he mumbled as he let his Keyblade vanish. "Will I ever remember you, or should I just forget everything and leave it in the past?" The only answer he got was more throbbing from his heart.

**VVVVV**

"Hi."

Sora jumped slightly at Kairi's almost shy voice as he opened the door to the room they were sharing. He let out a small sigh as he tried to calm down his racing heart, closing the door behind him. He stared at her, noticing just how meek and shy she looked, sitting on the bed in a loose, Greek-styled nightdress, her feet pulled up to her chest.

A weak smile appeared on his face as he said, "Hey."

"Are you okay?"

He didn't know how to answer, so he just shrugged. Kairi moved slightly, patting the spot beside her. She watched as Sora removed his outer layer of clothes and his armour before falling back on the bed in a thin, white t-shirt he wore under his armour and a pair of black boxers.

Kairi leaned over him slightly and said, "Mulan's okay. Naminé told me that she already woke up. I ran into Hercules earlier, and he said that Hades was just angry earlier, but it was nothing big to worry about." She was silent for a moment, her eyes staring into his. "That's not what's bothering you though."

"No," he admitted, but he really didn't want to talk about it, not now.

As if sensing that, she let the topic go and moved so that she was laying on the pillows, her feet stretched out over his own legs so that they were perpendicular to one another. Glancing down at him, she said, "Hera put that protection spell on me earlier. It felt kinda strange, but not painful, and I felt a little tired after that, but not as much as she expected. She actually checked for me and said that everything seems fine." Kairi smiled a bit, putting her hand on her stomach. "I think I felt her moving earlier, I'm not sure."

That caught Sora's attention. He looked over at her and asked, "Really?"

"I dunno, it could have been gas, but Hera says it's possible, and I'd like to think that it was her I felt but—"

"Wait, her?"

She shrugged and said, "Roxas is calling her a him. I just felt like he or she needed a pronoun. I don't actually know." Kairi went silent, and there was a heavy silence between them. Neither moved, and Sora didn't make any sort of indication that he was going to move any close to her or really interact with her in any sort of way. She sighed, knowing that she was going to have to give up her pride this time. "Sora?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm really sorry about earlier," she said, staring at the ceiling with tears welding in her eyes. "That whole thing with that guy? I honestly didn't realize that he was trying to ask me out on a date, and I didn't realize that I was implying I wasn't with you. It's so stupid, but I thought I sounded sarcastic and I know I didn't now but I'm just—I swear I'm not making it up even though I sound like a complete idiot."

Sora rolled around so that he was looking at he. He smiled slightly and said, "I know that you wouldn't do anything like that, especially not now." He paused for a moment. "You really thought you sounded sarcastic and it came out flirty? How does that happen?"

She knew that he was teasing her now, and gently kicked his side. He finally moved so that he was beside her, instead of at her feet. He was eye level with her, just staring at her with a teasing look.

Kairi felt herself blush and blurted out, "I feel like my mind is on a roller-coaster. My hormones too. Those buggers keep messing with me. One minute, it's like I'm happy and content with my life, the next I feel sad, and then I seriously just want to jump you. It's been more or less the last one recently though. Any little thing leads to a fantasy and it's kind of pissing me off."

Sora's face screwed up with confusion and he said, "So to put it bluntly, you probably got messed up because your hormones are making you a bit sex crazed?"

"No."

He stared at her.

"Okay, yes. It's just because of my hormones. That's all."

"Sure, sure," Sora said teasingly. "Does that include now?"

"Well, yeah, but you're tired, stressed, sore and—" Sora cut off her rambling by moving so that he was hovering over her and kissing her. She was stunned for just a minute before she returned the kiss feverishly.

"One thing I did learn in school, this can be awesome relief of stress and pain, you should know that," he said teasingly.

"I think you went to a different school than me."

He laughed, but didn't get to say anything else as she pulled him down to her.

**VVVVV**

Roxas was sitting in the kitchen, his eyes red from his lack of sleep the night before. He glanced up as Naminé came into the room, looking happy and refreshed. She did pass out in her room just after finding out that Mulan was going to be fine, and slept through the entire night. Roxas, on the other hand, was stuck in the room next to his brother and Kairi, and though the walls were thick, the doors sucked at keeping out sound. They kept him awake all night.

He glared at his girlfriend, who grinned at him and asked, "Didn't get much sleep?"

"Don't even get me started."

"Umm…excuse me, do you know where I can find any of the Keyblade Bearers?" Both looked around at the hall with interest, not recognizing the voice asking the question. They could hear someone mutter an answer, and the voice said, "Thank you."

A moment later, a tall anthropomorphic dog walked into the room. Roxas blinked with surprise, because he honestly thought that it was Goofy in front of them, but they left Goofy with Donald, Mickey, Yen Sid, Ienzo, and Lea at Twilight's Destiny.

Naminé recognized him first and asked, "You're Max, right? Goofy's son?"

"Yeah," he answered, sounding almost sheepish. "Chip and Dale got me to pilot the new gummi ship here. I left it up in orbit. They would have brought it here themselves, but they're working on some sort of project. I don't usually ask."

"I thought you weren't going to be here for a few more days?"

"I drove faster than they told me to," Max answered with a shrug.

"Drove faster than—how fast is faster when you're here a few days earlier than we thought you'd be?" Roxas asked, sheer amazement lacing through his voice.

Max shrugged, looking slightly embarrassed. "I'm a good flyer, and I like to go fast." He smiled sheepishly. "Plus I found a warp hole that Chip and Dale figured out jumped closer to here."

"Since when? I don't remember there being any warp holes close to Disney."

"I got lost," Max answered, looking rather bashful. "No idea where I ended up, but looks like something was watching out for us all."

"Well, Sora will be glad. Roxas, can you get him and—"

"No," he answered flatly. "No, you, Miss. Good-Night-Sleep, are going to wake them up. I'll take Max with me and get the less evil people. You've never met Emiliana, I think that you'll be able to appreciate her too." Roxas spoke directly to Max, grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the room without another word.

Naminé stared at the two, confusion on her face. She shook her head and left the room.

**VVVVV**

_**Author's Note**_

Yeah, this chapter is pretty choppy, even I can see that. I didn't intend for it to be like that when I first set out writing it, but I had so much to mash in here, and as I got going, I realized that, with all the different things happening, even if I added a third chapter in this world, it still wouldn't matter, it'd feel just as rushed, because that's the type of mood everyone's in.

Really, I didn't intend on there being anything important happening in Olympus. The tournament was just so that people could get a slight insight to how the people they've never really experienced fighting yet work (mostly Mulan, Midori and Emiliana). It didn't work out how I wanted it to, but oh well. As for Hades, I never had anything planned for him. I just thought it'd be amusing if one of the typical bad guys somewhere along the lines hated Endless as much as the main characters, and the mental images of Hades made me laugh.

Oh, and Kairi feeling the baby move this far along (about 16 weeks) is possible, though for first time pregnancies it's very, very rare, and it's not like a kick, it supposedly feels more like fluttering, or as I portrayed here, just odd gas. As for her hormones messing her up as much as it did in the last chapter, it IS possible, it's just very uncommon. Hormones effect everyone differently.

Yes, Max will be making more appearances in future chapters, though he won't be going on to worlds with them.

Anyway, the next chapter should bring lots of laughs just because of where it takes place. You'll understand. Oh, and I'm going to be teasing you all with something pretty big. I'm hoping a few people have a spaz over it!

Thank you to all of the awesome people who reviewed! I promised before Christmas, and given that it's Christmas Eve, I kept my promise. Thank you to: xNINJABLADE45x, CommanderFlynn, Twilight Cardmistress, Trainalf, 16afoster, Q-A the Authoress, EvilxLittlexNinja, Godskeybladewarrior, Eddie Camp, Shire Folk and The 666th necrophiliac! You guys are truly awesome! Virtual Christmas Cookies to all!

On that note, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! I know it's not really acceptable to just say Merry Christmas anymore, but I want to say it. Really though, no matter what you celebrate, I hope you have an awesome holiday! And if you don't celebrate anything...well have a great day anyway!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	22. How To Believe

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Twenty-One – How To Believe_

Sora was glad to be away from Olympus. He always liked that world, because he enjoyed the people who lived there, and he usually liked the tournaments. This time was a headache though, and once he knew that Max was there with a new gummi ship, he was quick to usher everyone away.

Phil was disappointed that they were leaving without actually finishing the tournament, but Sora wasn't taking no or an answer, even if it meant kidnapping Hercules and running. Hercules was positive that there was little threat from the Endless towards his world, so he didn't have any qualms about leaving.

This gummi ship was a lot bigger than the one that they ended up crashing. Max explained to them that Chip and Dale figured that they needed to move a lot of people around, so they might as well do it comfortably. Most of the rooms were small and shared bathrooms between two rooms, only houses a single person each. There was one bigger room though, obviously made for King Mickey and Queen Minnie if they needed to travel in a huge ship. Kairi was quick to claim it, simply just smiling and pointing at her stomach.

The only downside was that the ship moved a lot slower than their original one.

"Sora?"

He looked up from the pillow he had his face shoved in, raising an eyebrow when he saw Kairi standing before him in only a towel. He could see that she was wearing her bra under it, but he was still confused about why she in front of him, almost naked, when they were almost to Never Land.

"Is something wrong?" Sora asked her, sitting up.

"Come here." She held onto her towel with one hand, dragging him up with the other. She pulled him into the bathroom and in front of the mirror. She breathed in nervously and said, "I know that this didn't just appear over night, but I never really noticed it."

"Noticed what?"

She took the towel off, leaving her only in her bra and underwear. She looked at him nervously and turned sideways, trailing her hand over her stomach.

They both noticed that she had the very slightest bump on her stomach before, but this time, Sora didn't have to squint. He could feel a nervous sickness take over his stomach almost instantly when he stared at the small, but visible bump. It was still easily concealed under her clothing, but he honestly hadn't noticed it before she pointed it out.

"Hera said that I might gain a little more weight," Kairi said. "That must be why it's suddenly like it came out of nowhere." She kept her hand on her stomach, looking down at it as if expecting an alien to pop out.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I just…I think she's moving. I really don't think it's just gas."

"Can you…feel it?"

"You mean outside, with my hand? No. Just inside. It's weird," she looked over at him, and giggled a bit at the odd expression. He looked torn between fascinated and horrified. She shook her head and grabbed his hand, placing it on her slightly distended abdomen. "See, nothing weird. I'm just…fatter."

"You're not fat," he seemed almost amused by this. "I really wish you'd stop worrying about that. I swear, out of all the girls here you have the worst self-esteem ever, and you really shouldn't. Just…stop worrying."

She smiled at him and said, "I'd give you a hug, but I'm in just my underwear and that would distract you. We're almost to Never Land."

"Yeah," he admitted reluctantly. "You're probably right." He passed her the towel that she dropped earlier, and she wrapped it around herself and went to get her clothes. "You do know you're not coming, right?"

"What? Why not?"

"We agreed that you wouldn't go to worlds where you transform. When in Never Land, a person doesn't age, and who knows what strange type of magic is there. We don't know what that could do to you."

She pouted and said, "Fine, I'll just sit here and cry."

"Okay."

"Did you not here me say I was going to cry?"

"Yeah, but considering you actually cried when Naminé showed you a picture of a possible bride's maid dress last night…"

Her pout turned into a glare. "Get out. I'm getting changed."

"But—"

"Out."

He left the room with a laugh and a shake of his head, knowing that she wasn't serious. For most of the trip from Olympus, she was good, her eating habits seemed pretty normal, and she was her normal happy self, but whenever Naminé brought up anything to do with dresses, she cried and didn't know why. It was pretty much the most amusing thing Sora ever encountered.

He just wasn't going to say that out loud, because she would probably turn into a she-demon and murder him.

**VVVVVV**

"So that's Never Land?" Max asked as he piloted the ship. He insisted that he didn't want to go to Twilight's Destiny, and Sora had the suspicion that it was because Goofy didn't know he was away from Disney in the first place. He also didn't want to go back to Disney, and Sora didn't have a problem with him staying with them. Max was more than just a good pilot, and it was nice having someone who could focus on that job alone.

"Yup," Sora said with a nod of his head. "It's a pretty big world, but I get the feeling that continually sending everyone down to these worlds would be a bad idea. I'm thinking just a small group should go. It shouldn't be that hard to find either Peter or the Lost Boys, who can find Peter for us. I'll go and take Roxas and Riku with me."

"You sure?" Max asked him. "I know Hercules would probably like to see another world."

"I'm sure. Yen Sid said that he was going to be watching Roxas and Riku in a way. They need to have the chance to prove themselves to him, so just bringing them makes sense. Besides, Roxas has seen the actual terrain there, and Riku—well I think he really needs to go back there."

Max didn't ask questions, he just put the gummi ship in orbit. "Okay, I'll get the warp system set up."

"You're awesome Max!" Sora said as he slapped the anthropomorphic dog on the back and left to get Riku and Roxas.

Everyone else was a little down that they wouldn't be going down to Never Land, but they all understood Sora's reasoning, or at least pretended to.

"Now Roxas, you know the deal, if you see any pretty flowers there, get some and bring them back so I can see if I like them," Naminé said as they walked into the room, sounding very business like.

Riku, who stood beside Sora, glanced at his brunet friend with amusement. Sora just shrugged. Kairi might have been off kilter due to her hormones, but Naminé was turning a bit psychotic trying to plan out a wedding. She was honestly kind of terrifying.

"Yes Naminé, I remember," Roxas said dryly.

"Roxas…"

Kairi came up to Sora's side and sent him a mischievous look. "Now Sora, you know the deal, you have to collect every single seashell that you see for me. All of them."

"Colour coding them?"

"In a spectrum arrangement please."

Naminé glared at them and said, "You two are jerks and I pity the children your child interacts with because it'll inherit that from both of you."

"How could you say that?" Kairi said, her voice rising sharply. She looked at Sora, winking at him before putting her hands over her face and pretending to be crying as she fled the room.

Naminé looked horrified and ran off after her.

"Thank you," Roxas muttered to his twin.

"No big. Lets get going before Naminé finds out Kairi's faking."

The three of them went into the small room that was used to warp people down to the worlds. Sora gave Max a thumbs up through the window, and he hit a couple of buttons.

They were pulled through the portal, but at they were, Sora started to feel odd, and then he felt like he was falling.

Then, everything went black.

**VVVVVV**

"Umm…I think something might have gone wrong on the way down guys," Sora's rather unsure voice said.

Roxas and Riku just started coming around a few minutes after he did, and both seemed a bit woozy from whatever happened to them.

Roxas groaned, putting his head in his hands and said, "Really? You don't say?"

Riku opened his eyes and stared at the world above him with a frown. He furrowed his brow and said, "I don't think I've ever been on the mainland of Never Land, but it looked normal to me before. Why'd it get bigger?" The grass seemed to be about the size of a two-storey building, and the trees were even bigger. At the same time, it was almost like everything had more detail to it. The green grass seemed greener than normal, and the colours of the flowers he could see were bright and vibrant.

"It didn't," Sora answered, his face appearing above him, his expression switching back and fourth between amusement and acceptance. "We got smaller, but, uh, that's not the biggest problem."

"What is?" He almost feared the answer that he was going to get.

"What the fuck? What are these?"

Riku pushed himself up and glanced at Roxas, who jumped off of the ground and was twisting around in circles, like a dog chasing its tail, except he wasn't chasing a tail. No, Roxas seemed to be trying to get a better look at his almost transparent wings and—

Riku stopped his thought process and realized that Roxas had wings. Not bird wings, not bat wings, and not even dragon wings. No, these were thin, almost invisible things that seamed a bit iridescent, like a bubble, with thin, white membranes that swirled in intricate, rather feminine patterns around them. Riku couldn't help but stare before he said, "You have fairy wings." He paused. "I feel like that's slightly appropriate."

Roxas whipped around and said, "What's that suppose' to mean?"

"You were awfully chummy with Axel."

"He was like my brother! I could say that you've always secretly liked Sora, Mr. I-was-ashamed-to-show-my-face-because-I-was-old-and-I-didn't-want-you-to-judge-me! Besides, you have the exact same wings!"

"Huh?" Now it was Riku's turn to look around, and he couldn't help but stare in horror at the rather feminine wings. "What the fuck?"

"Gonna go flutter around, Peaseblossom?"

"Shut up, Sparkly!"

"Come over here and make me, Flutterby!"

"Hey guys." They both ignored Sora as they started wrestling one another. "Guys?" They didn't even look at him.

"Want a tu-tu to go with your long hair and girl wings?"

"I'm not surprised that you have one. You probably dress in drag for fun!"

"Guys!"

They stopped, glancing around to stare at Sora, who was floating in the air with his legs crossed, his elbow resting on his leg, his hand propping up his chin, wings beating as quickly as a hummingbird to keep him hovering. He looked thoughtful and not the least bit worried about the fact that they had, from their point of view, very girly wings.

Sora realized that he had their attention and said, "I think I know what happened. We are in Never Land, but we're like Tink right now instead of Peter. Wow, he's going to find this hilarious. I wonder if we'll be able to understand her."

"Tink? As in Tinker Bell?"

Sora nodded his head.

"Aren't you the least bit worried about the fact that we're—" Roxas lowered his voice, his eyes darting around suspiciously, "—fairies?"

Sora shrugged and said, "I've been a vampire, a frog, a lion, a car, a dinosaur, a merman, and a lot of other things. Sprouting some wings is one of the last things I'm worried about." He smirked a bid. "Besides, I'm wicked fast with these things!" He seemed to adapt to flying fairly quickly, which he demonstrated by zipping around them.

Riku crossed his arms over his chest and said, "Sora, please stop…fluttering. It's unnerving."

Sora smiled pleasantly at him and said, "How about you two stop bitching at one another. We need to find Tink."

Roxas shook his head and said, "I thought we were here to get Peter Pan, not Tinker Bell."

"Yeah, but there must be a reason that we turned out like this. Who knows, maybe we'll need Tink to translate." Sora paused, once again looking thoughtful. "Plus I really want to see if we can understand her."

"Fine," Riku said, dropping his arms to his sides in defeat. "Lets go."

Roxas seemed to silently agree with him, because they both started heading towards the massively tall grass.

Sora, on the other hand, tilted his head with confusion and called out, "What are you guys doing?"

"Going to find Tink?" Roxas questioned, turning to face his twin again.

Rolling his eye, the brunet said, "You might wanna try flying. It tends to be faster."

"And use these…wings?" Riku looked incredibly uncomfortable with the thought of actually using the wings that looked like they belonged to a five-year-old girl's Halloween costume.

"Yeah," Sora spoke as if lecturing a small child. "Experience says that when we change going into worlds, there tends to be a reason."

Roxas stared at him with wide eyes and said, "But—but—I…" He wavered under Sora's stern look. "Aw to hell with it. Lets do this." He willed his wings to start flapping, and it came surprisingly easy to him as he shakily lifted off of the ground. He had a difficult time figuring out how to do more than just go up and down (that was easy, all he had to do was start and stop flapping), but soon he was able to move around well enough, though not nearly as fluid as Sora could.

"Come on Riku," the brunet encouraged his friend.

Riku gave him a hostile look before saying, "Fine." He lifted off the ground much easier than Roxas did, but when he tried to fly forward, he ended up doing some strange sort of mid-air twirl, and when he tried to correct himself, he just did some other weird kind of twirl or flip. By the time he managed to stabilize himself, Sora and Roxas were leaning on one another to keep themselves in the air, laughing hysterically at him.

"If you're done rehearsing for the ballet," Sora said once he calmed down, causing Roxas to wheeze in protest as he kept laughing, "we should probably get going."

"You two are assholes and I hope your kid, and any children that thing might spawn, drive you both to insanity." Sora and Roxas looked at one another again before laughing hysterically and flying by Riku.

**VVVVVV**

Though none of them said it, exploring Never Land as fairies was an interesting experience already. All of them did agree that they seemed to have better eyesight, or at least an eye for more detail. Every texture seemed a little more obvious, every colour a little brighter, and every shape was very clear to them.

"You know, once you get used to it, this isn't so bad," Roxas said as they zipped along across the top of the grass quickly. "It's actually kinda cool."

"I'm not going to say a word," Riku muttered under his breath, shaking his head and Sora laughed.

"What was tha—hey!"

Roxas, in his attempt to fly backwards, ended up running into someone, or rather, they ended up plowing him over.

He looked around and saw a fairy with long, black hair with a bit of a purple tint fly by, dressed mostly in dull red and burgundy. She barely glanced back, but still managed to yell, "Watch it!"

"You want it!" he yelled back angrily. "I'm flying here!" She didn't even acknowledge that she heard him, zooming away much quicker than any of them could go.

"Fairies can be rude?" Riku asked Sora, looking honestly perplexed. "I thought they were supposed to be all sunshine and daisies?"

"Nah, Tink has a nasty temper too," he answered with a shrug.

"Well at least she doesn't fly into other people and then blame them for it!" Roxas finished with a yell.

"She's gone," Riku pointed out, but Roxas just glared at him.

"Ignore Vidia, she's a bit of a crank." They all looked and saw a fairy with light brown hair that had almost an orange tint to it, tied back in a long braid. She wore a shirt and pants that were both orange, looking like they were made out of some sort of flower petal, though Sora had no idea what kind. For a moment, he entertained the thought of asking Roxas, because he was subjected to way more flowers than a male was usually comfortable with thanks to Naminé lately, but decided not to. The fairy smiled warmly at them and said, "Everyone knows that."

"Oh, right," Roxas answered, not really sure what to say.

"Hmm…I've never seen you three before." She zipped around all three of them quickly.

"We're not really from around here," Sora answered, choosing his words carefully. He always at least tried to keep to the rules of upholding the world order, but he usually ended up failing.

She frowned, eyebrows scrunching together with confusion as she said, "That's not possible. All fairies are from here."

Well, his excuses usually lasted a little longer than that. Not quite sure what to say, he settled for the truth. "Erm…we're looking for a fairy. Maybe you know her? Her name's Tinker Bell a—"

The fairy flew up close to his face, usually intruding on his personal bubble as she said, "Tinker Bell? You know her?"

"Yeah," he answered, flying back from her. "I met her and Peter Pan a while ago, bu—"

"Come with me!" she interrupted him excitedly, grabbing his arm and dragging him away.

"Wait!" Sora cried out, but that was lost of deaf ears.

Roxas and Riku looked at the fairy dragging Sora away before glancing at one another.

"I guess we should probably follow them," Riku decided.

"Probably," Roxas agreed, and they both started flying after their kidnapped friend.

**VVVVVV**

Sora thought that he was a good flyer, but he skills were nothing compared to this crazy fairy that was dragging him around. To be fair, he just got his wings that day and she had them all her life, however old she was, but still, they were moving fast.

"Guys!" she cried out excitedly, slowing down but not letting go of Sora.

He looked around and the first thing he saw was a fairy with dark skin and hair folding her arms across the front of her yellow, daffodil dress, and saying, "What have we told you about dragging people around?"

"I don't do it often," the crazy fairy said. "It's just, he knows Tinker Bell."

That got the attention of the two other fairies, one with bright red hair (more like a typical ginger colour rather than Kairi's crimson locks or Lea's fire-engine red hair), wearing a haltered dress that looked like it was made out of dark pink rose petals, and the other with long, blue-tinted black hair, wearing a long, one-shouldered dress made of blue water lily petals. The one in blue came up close to him and said, "You don't look like you're from Pixie Hallow."

"I'm not," Sora admitted, turning around when Roxas and Riku appeared by them. "None of us are."

"Have fun?" Roxas asked his brother, approaching him.

"I'm used to being dragged around by women," he said with a shrug, causing Riku to snort with laughter. He looked back at the four fairies and asked, "Why is it such a big deal that I know Tinker Bell? Why is it important enough to drag me around when I don't even know you?"

"Well, to us, it is." Sora looked around at Roxas with confusion, but he just shrugged. Sora looked back at the fairies. A male fairy with blond hair, wearing the top of an acorn as a hat, appeared beside them. "Sorry about Fawn. Sometimes she gets a bit over excited, but usually not that much. My name's Terrence, and I used to be a friend of Tink's. We all were her friends."

Sora blinked slowly at him and said, "That's freaky."

"What?" Terrence asked.

"You sound exactly like my brother," he answered, pointing at Roxas.

"He does not," Roxas protested, only further proving that they sounded alike.

"Well I'll be damned," Riku sounded way more amused than he should have been. "He does."

Stopping any possible argument before it could start, Sora looked at them and said, "Anyway, I'm Sora, he's Riku, and the voice clone there is Roxas."

The fairy in blue smiled and said, "My name's Silvermist, and the one that dragged you here if Fawn."

"Sorry about that," Fawn said happily. "I get a bit excited at times."

"I'm Iridessa," the fairy in yellow said as she came closer. "It's nice to meet you. This is Rosetta."

The redhead smiled politely and said, "It's a pleasure."

"You said that you know Tink?" Terrence asked, getting back to the point.

All three boys nodded their heads and Riku asked, "Why's it such a big deal?"

"Tink used to live in Pixie Hallow," Silvermist explained. "Then one day she left after—"

"That stupid human boy," Rosetta interrupted, sounding highly offended, but then she looked highly embarrassed about how rude she actually sounded. Manners were really important to her.

"You mean Peter Pan?" Roxas asked. Sure, Peter was a jerk, but he didn't really deserve that accusation. Roxas took a second to rethink that, and decided that, yes, Peter Pan actually did deserve that accusation.

"Yeah, she is," Silvermist said with a nod.

"What did he do? I mean, I know he's a jerk, but still," Riku said, voicing Roxas' thoughts without any hesitation.

"Maybe Queen Clarion could explain it best," Iridessa suggested.

"Or Fairy Mary," Fawn added.

Terrence shrugged and said, "Probably. Come on, if you're looking for Tink, I think you need to hear from the Queen first, since it's really hard to get out of the immediate area around Pixie Hallow."

"Really, why?" Riku asked.

"Those evil black creatures that force themselves to look like animals," Fawn answered, sounding even more offended than Rosetta had earlier.

Sora, Roxas and Riku all exchanged looks. They were all pretty sure that they knew what those creatures were.

**VVVVVV**

Sora, Riku and Roxas all had different thoughts about Queen Clarion the second they saw her, but each could sum them up with a single word. For Sora, it was gold, because from her hair, to her wings, to her dress, everything about her was golden. For Roxas, it was sparkly, because literally everything about her seemed to sparkle and shine. For Riku, it was transparent, because seriously, the bottom of her dress looked more like pixie dust than fabric and the very bottom looked transparent, and where the hell were her feet?

All three kept their thoughts to themselves and bowed politely.

"You're not from this world, are you?" Queen Clarion asked as she glided over to them smoothly.

"How'd you guess?" To some people, Roxas might have sounded rude, but he was honestly curious.

"You're not fairies, just normal boys disguised as such. Plus your clothes are completely different." Roxas smiled sheepishly. "You all have good hearts and intentions though, all of you." Her eyes lingered on Riku for a second, as if speaking to him directly. "Your deceit doesn't raise any alarms with me. In fact, your presence here is most welcoming."

"Why is that? Does it have to do with Tinker Bell?"

"Not necessarily," she said with a shake of her head. "What are your names?"

"I'm Sora, that's my brother, Roxas, and that's our friend, Riku."

She nodded her head and said, "Let me explain something. A fairy is born from a baby's first laugh. They come hear, and each finds their special ability, or niche, if you will. This means that every fairy must do his or her part, or everything can be thrown off balance for a little while. For example, each and every one of the fairies before you has their own talent. Rosetta is a garden fairy, Silvermist a water fairy, Iridessa a light fairy, and Fawn an animal fairy. There are other groups, such as fire, snow, night, fast-flying, and so many others, and some have very special jobs, like Terrence, who is a dust-talent sparrowman, meaning he is one of the few who looks after the pixie dust here."

"What about Tinker Bell?" Sora asked curiously.

"She was a Tinker Fairy."

Riku's face screwed up with confusion and he asked, "Really?"

Misunderstanding his confusion, Terrence said, "A tinker builds, creatures, and fixes everything. Tink was one of the best—after a rought start—and a few problems along the way—but over all, she was one of the best." Riku was going to clarify that he was referring to the fact that Tinker Bell actually had her 'position' in her name to begin with, but he decided to let it go, since most of the fairies seemed to have similar stories with their names relating to their talent.

"Are we talking about the same Tinker Bell?" Sora asked skeptically. "The one I know is kinda…okay really vain, and she doesn't seem interested in building anything."

"She has blonde hair and wears a green dress?" Rosetta asked him.

"Gets really mad very easily?" Iridessa supplied.

"Turns bright red when she's mad?" Fawn added.

Sora paused before saying, "That's her. Though I'd say she gets pretty jealous too. She turns bright red and flies at your face and then sh—"

"She flies? Are you sure?" Terrence interrupted him, looking slightly surprised

"Yeah," Roxas answered. "I've met her too, and if she likes you, she'll lend you some of her Pixie dust to fly."

"Faith, trust, and Pixie dust," Sora said with a shrug. "That's how I flew before. Pretty handy, since I would have been eaten by a crocodile without it."

Iridessa looked around at Queen Clarion and asked, "That's not possible, is it?"

"Why would it be?" Riku wondered.

"All fairies," Queen Clarion spoke, "need Pixie dust to use his or her powers, and especially to fly. The only place to obtain Pixie dust is through this tree. Tinker Bell hasn't returned home since she left so long ago, and no one here has been in contract with her."

"Why did she leave?" Sora asked.

"Tink was always interested in Lost Things," Silvermist explained. "Those are the things that end up on the shores of Never Land without any reason. The idea of a Lost Boy was too much for her to pass up."

"Isn't that what Peter's friends call themselves?" Riku questioned Sora.

"Yeah. Peter Pan and the Lost Boys."

"Tinker Bell was always a special fairy," Queen Clarion said as she glided over to the opening in the tree to look outside. "the idea that she could sustain her own, natural source of Pixie dust is a farfetched one, but it is still possible. I myself have such an ability."

"You have no idea where she might be then?" Roxas asked. "We were kind of looking for her and Peter Pan."

"Actually, I do know." All of Tinker Bell's old friends looked surprised at the Queen's words. "I will tell you, but first," she turned to Sora, "I have a request for you, Keyblade Master."

"How'd you—you know what? I'm just gonna go with it. How can I help?" Sora asked curiously.

"These unnatural beasts, not make of darkness, not made of light, they continue to attack our magical barriers. We've been able to keep them out of Pixie Hallow so far, but they continue to try. They've yet to move on to any other part of Never Land. Unfortunately, I fear that they will spread soon. Our powers are not made to destroy such monsters. We need your help."

"Sora," Riku whispered. "We don't have much time."

"I know," he answered, "but this is part of our job Riku, to help everyone. This is Xehanort's doing, so we can't turn out backs on them." To the Queen, he spoke clearly. "We'll help in any way we can."

**VVVVVV**

"We'll help in any way we can," Roxas mocked. "Do you not see these things?"

When Sora expected to see the Endless, he expected them to be the same size as they were. He could see how it could be a dilemma when they were only pixie sized, and the Endless were normal sized. It was a problem he hadn't really thought of.

"At least it's not a bunch of small ones that are making up one big creature," he pointed out with forced optimism.

"No, they're just animals that will eat us!" Roxas pointed specifically to an Endless that was shaped like a huge pair, looking like some nasty combination of a grizzly and a polar bear. He paused, looking thoughtful, "But I suppose getting eaten by a bear is more manly than getting castrated by a frustrated Naminé."

"I know how you—"

"No you don't," Roxas interrupted him. "Kairi's been a bit weepy around Naminé's insanity, but all you really have to deal with his the horny Kairi right now. Screw you, you have no idea of the insanity of a Bridezilla."

"Then why are you complaining about having to fight these?" Riku asked. The three of them were currently hovering inside of the magical barrier that protected Pixie Hallow from the vicious Endless outside.

"I have no idea, I'd rather face these," Roxas answered.

"Well, this is your trial," Sora pointed out. "You guys lead the way."

Roxas looked at Riku, who said, "Aim for the eyes."

"Good enough for me." Roxas flew out recklessly, heading for the bear's eye, and Riku followed a little more cautiously, while Sora hung back.

"Is there any way we can help?" He turned and looked at Terrence, Silvermist, Rosetta, Iridessa and Fawn.

Sora was about to tell them no, but he stopped and thought about it. Though their powers couldn't destroy the Endless, they could no doubt help keep them busy.

"We're not going to be able to defeat these as we are," Sora explained. "I know I said otherwise to Roxas and Riku, but those things are just too powerful for our tiny Keyblades. We need a full-sized person, and the only full-sized person who has a Keyblade around here is Peter Pan. I have to find him and Tinker Bell. If you guys can help distract the Endless with your powers, I can try to find him."

"Queen Clarion figured you'd do something like that," Terrence said. "She told me where to find Tink and Peter Pan."

Sora nodded and said, "You girls help out Riku and Roxas. Terrence and I will go get help."

"Do you think they'll be okay?" Terrence asked as he and Sora zoomed out of the barrier and shot by all of the Endless. There really weren't that many, but they were huge, and not easily destroyed.

"They'll hold their own. Come on, we need to get Peter and Tink."

**VVVVVV**

Roxas took in his enemies quickly, noting that there wasn't that many Endless in front of him. The problem was that they were huge in comparison to the fairies. There were only five, and no two had the same shape. There was a wolf, a huge bear of some sort, a lion, a tiger, some strange animal he would later find out to be a wolverine, and a llama. He did a double-take at the last one, but decided that some things were better off not being questioned.

He launched himself at the bear-Endless, swinging his tiny Keyblade around and hitting it in the ear. It let out a grunt of annoyance and flicked him away. He spiraled backwards, colliding with a fence. He groaned and shook his head. "I think we need a better strategy."

"Sora and Terrence went to get Peter Pan and Tinker Bell," Silvermist said as she helped him up.

"I could try to reason with them," Fawn suggested.

"Fawn honey, you tried already," Rosetta said, moving back and fourth, not really sure what to do.

Iridessa looked around before her face lit up and she said, "We just need to distract them, right? Then I do have an idea." She flew towards a sunbeam that was peaking through the tree, causing both Roxas and Riku to stare with surprise when she actually moved the sunbeam itself, right into the eyes of the lion-Endless. It roared and moved back, temporarily blinded by the sudden light.

"Well, as long as we don't have to try and kill it," Rosetta said, flying towards the ground. She then flew up, zipping around the bear-Endless' legs, a vine following her movements, wrapping around it.

Silvermist moved next. She shot over to the stream that was conveniently nearby and then flew at the Endless, a good amount of water following her. Like Iridessa, she aimed for their eyes, and the force of the water caused all of the creatures to stumble back and roar in pain.

"Maybe we can blind them all together," Riku suggested, fluttering (much to his horror) just a bit out of the reach of the Endless. "It'll be easier to Peter to beat them. We don't even know if the Keyblade he has will work. Some do and some don't. Mine seems to work fine, but Sora's don't work at all."

"He told me. Lets give it a shot then." Roxas summoned his duel Keyblades and shot towards the llama-Endless. He was pretty sure that it would be the one least likely to eat him. He flew at it's eyes, and almost got there, when a slimy, sticky substance hit him and he went flying back once again.

Even though there was a serious problem happening, Riku couldn't stop himself from laughing hysterically. Seeing Roxas lunge into battle, only to be thwarted by a llama spitting on him was too funny not to laugh at.

Roxas glared up at him as Fawn helped him up. They weren't getting anywhere, they really needed Peter to help.

**VVVVVV**

Terrence led the way as he and Sora zipped through the air. Sora never actually explored the island of Neverland before, so he was glad that he was with someone who seemed to know where they were going and what they were doing.

Sora had to do a double-take when he saw mermaids there, and he was pretty sure that, unlike the ones in Atlantica, they were not wearing clamshell tops to cover themselves. He blushed and quickly looked away.

"We're almost there," Terrence said. "At least, from what Queen Clarion told me. I don't understand, if she knew where Tinker Bell was this whole time, why didn't she get her to come back?"

"She must have had a reason," Sora answered. Suddenly, a dark shadow fell over them.

Terrence looked up and let out a startled yell, "A hawk!" When Sora didn't react to the exclamation, he quickly shoved him aside. They ended up crashing into a tree, but before the brunet could protest, a huge blur passed by them.

"Hawks eat fairies," Terrence explained as they flew into the leaves for protection. "They see us just like they see small birds."

Sora squinted as the creature turned around and he said, "That's not a hawk. That's an Endless that looks like one. They must take on all the attributes of the animals they turn into, including their eating habits."

"So it's worse than a hawk. What do we do?"

Sora looked around before asking, "Where's Peter's hideout?"

"See that big, twisted tree? That's where the queen said to go."

He nodded and said, "We're going to have to make a break for there. Peter should be able to handle the hawk. We're going to have to fly as fast as possible."

"I'm not a fast-flying fairy, and neither are you. Wind fairies," he clarified when he saw Sora's confusion.

"Well, we'll still try." He summoned his Keyblade into his hand. "If it gets too close, I'll blast it with some sort of magic. Ready?"

"Not like we have much of a choice," Terrence muttered. "Okay, lets go."

The two of them waited for a second, watching the hawk, and when it was facing away from their direction, they made a break for it. The hawk circled around and dived at them. They pushed themselves as hard as they could, knowing that it would not be easy to escape a bird of prey.

"Thunder!" Sora called out when the hawk was a few feet from them. Though he was small, for some reason the thunder was normal sized. It blasted the hawk with enough force to both destroy it, and send Sora and Terrence hurling forward, directly into the door of Peter Pan's hideout.

They both flew into the room and ended up crashing into the wall painfully. There were a few startled cries from the few Lost Boys that were there, but Peter himself didn't appear.

"What now?" Sora heard an unfamiliar voice groan.

He was about to get up when Terrence pushed him off, standing up and calling out, "Tink?"

Sure enough, the small fairy, who looked average sized to Sora now, looked down at them from what must have been her own little room. Her blue eyes looked from Sora to Terrence with pure confusion, as if she wasn't quite sure what was happening. She flew down to them, still not saying a word. Up close, Sora could tell that her green dress was actually made from leaves, and he couldn't see the glow that he normally could around her. It must have been something that only humans could see.

"Terrence?" she asked, confusion lacing her voice. "But I—what are you doing here?"

Sora looked at the male fairy, and saw that he seemed choked up. There would be a time for meaningful reunions, but now was not it. He flew forward and said, "Tinks we—"

"Sora? How are you—what's going on?" She flew around Sora, poked at his wings and looked at him with confusion.

"I think my friends and I appeared as pixies this time, because that's where the problems are. There are these creatures, Endless, they're attacking Pixie Hallow," Sora explained.

"Or trying to," Terrence added. "Our magic has kept them out for now. Can you imagine something getting a hold of all our pixie dust though?"

Tinker Bell looked like she wanted to question them more, but she wisely chose to do keep her questions to herself for now. She nodded her head and said, "Come on, Peter is by the Indian Village. Why can't you beat them though, Sora?"

"They're normal sized, and I'm just too small to do any real damage," he explained as the three fairies zipped out of the room, ignoring the confused looks of the Lost Boys that saw them. "Plus my Keyblade doesn't seem to effect Endless all that well."

"Peter's probably going to make fun of you," Tinker Bell informed him.

"As long as he beats the Endless, I don't care. Hey wait, I can understand you perfect," Sora said as they flew through the air.

"You're a fairy," she sounded amused. "Of course you can."

"Does that mean I sound like a jingle bell too?"

"Probably."

Sora was silent for a moment before saying, "This is going to kill Riku. He doesn't like being a fairy."

"Wait here," Tinker Bell said as she came to an abrupt stop in front of the Indian Village. Sora almost shot past her, but managed to slow down in time. "They'll have too many questions if they see you. They all think that I'm the only fairy on Never Land."

Sora didn't get the chance to ask why as she darted away quickly.

"It's to protect us," Terrence explained. "People have never really been understanding of fairies in the past. Not on this world. It's hard to explain."

"Don't worry about it," Sora said. "It's not important, I was just curious."

"Sora? What happened to you?" The boy in question looked around to see the much bigger Peter Pan land in front of him, amusement lacing through his voice.

Knowing that Peter could most likely understand him, he shook his head and said, "It's a long story. We need your help though."

"It's really important," Tinker Bell agreed, flying close to Peter's face. "See him? That's my friend Terrence. The place I lived before I met you is in danger, and Sora and his friends are too small to get rid of the enemies."

"They're called Endless, and they look and act like real animals," Sora explained, slightly self-conscious knowing that Peter was hearing him as only a jingling sound. "Also one looks like a hawk and tried to eat us."

"Show me the way Tink," Peter urged her, surprising Sora at the bit of maturity he was showing for once. They all started flying, but they didn't get very far as a dark shadow loomed over them once again.

All four of them moved out of the was, causing the hawk-Endless to shoot past them. Sora stared at it for a moment before saying, "Peter, follow Terrence. The others need you now. There's only one of this guy but there's about five there. Tink, can you help me with this guy?"

"You got it," she answered.

Peter and Terrence both hesitated before the fairy nodded and said, "Come on, it's this way."

"I hope you have a plan," Tinker Bell said, watching the hawk-Endless circle above them again.

"You're apparently good with making things," Sora answered. "I need you to distract it so I can get close to it. My Keyblade might not do much good to it's body, but if I stab it in the eye it's gonna hurt."

She nodded her head and said, "Stay out of sight for now, okay Sora?"

He nodded in reply, hurrying into the leaves of one of the trees.

**VVVVVV**

"Where the hell are they?" Roxas asked as he watched the Endless viciously smash into the shield protecting Pixie Hallow.

They all came to the conclusion that they were just too small to do anything to them. Fawn tried talking to their animal sides, but it was no use because they weren't animals. On top of them, Fawn claimed that they weren't even natural. Heartless and Nobodies, though horrible, were natural when darkness was introduced to a person, but these things were not.

Every single one of the Endless were blinded now, but that seemed to make them all viciously angry. They attacked with more foce than ever before, and neither Roxas nor Riku could get close enough to actually attack now. Silvermist, Iridessa and Rosetta were completely exhausted, even finding it hard to fly now, so they had to hold back.

They really needed Sora and Terrence to get back with Peter.

"It's going to break," Iridessa said fearfully. "I've never seen these things so angry."

The bear-Endless let out a great grunt as it slashed at the defense, but it's claw never made it there. A powerful gust of wind kicked up, throwing it backwards and into the other Endless.

"Oh thank god," Roxas blurted out as Peter Pan appeared in front of them, Terrence quickly zipping down to them. "Where's Sora?'

"He and Tink stayed behind to deal with an Endless that was stalking us," he explained.

Peter Pan launched himself at the closest Endless to him: the lion. It roared loudly, and he tried to stab at it, but it was like his blade, Fairy Harp, wouldn't do anything to it, just bounce off of it. Peter flew above the creatures, staring down at his Keyblade with confusion.

"It doesn't work," Riku said, a bit of horror lacing his voice. "His Keyblade is like Sora's. Son of a bitch!"

"Magic!" Roxas cried out. Peter couldn't hear his now quiet voice from his height, so Roxas shot up towards him. "Peter! Use magic! It'll work!"

Peter glanced around to nod at him, and did a double take. He looked like he was about to say something, but decided that dealing with the Endless was more important.

**VVVVVV**

Sora waited for Tinker Bell to make her move. She was sitting on one of the branches of another tree, an elaborate invention made to, as far as Sora could tell, turn a coin to attract the hawk-Endless' attention without having to be near the coin, just in case.

He winced a bit as the coin reflected sunlight into his eyes, but tried to blink away the aftereffects of it. He looked up at the sky, and watched as the hawk suddenly swooped down.

"Wait," he muttered to himself, watching it draw closer. "Wait." It just went by him, and he threw himself at the creature. He managed to grab onto it's darkened feathers, and it let out a horrible screech that he was sure didn't completely belong to a hawk. Unless it was a hawk possessed by Satan.

He tried to get up to the eyes by climbing, knowing that if he let go he'd fly off, but it seemed to know that he was on it's back, twisting wildly in the air. He was honestly starting to feel a little sick from all the twisting and turning.

Sora gasped as he hands started to slip. He quickly summoned both Saviour and Sacrifice into his arms, slamming them into the creature's back, remembering a split second before he did that his Keyblade didn't work on them.

However, this time, Saviour and Sacrifice actually sunk into the hawk-Endless' back, causing it to screech with pain. Sora was more than just a little confused, and his momentary distraction allowed it to throw him off of his back.

Tinker Bell tried to catch him, but they both ended up collding with the tree.

"Any good ideas?" he asked, pushing himself up.

"Just one," she answered, grabbing his arm. "Fly!" She pulled him with her as she took off, and Sora realized that, compared to her, he was a pretty horrible flyer.

**VVVVVV**

"They've been gone for a while."

Max looked up at Kairi, slightly startled since he didn't hear her enter the bridge. The anthropomorphic dog nodded is head and said, "Yeah, but I'm sure they're fine. It's Sora, right?"

She grinned a bit, sitting beside Max and saying, "Sounds like you've heard some stories."

He nodded. "My dad told me all the stories. Good thing about him is that he doesn't try hiding things from me anymore. He just tries to hide me from other things."

Kairi smiled a bit, leaning back and saying, "I think it's a natural thing. You never want the people you care about in harms way. That's why I just wish they would get back here.:"

Before he could say anything, Max was distracted by one of the small monitors in front of him and said, "I think you're in luck. The warp system's been activated."

Kairi eagerly got up, stumbling a bit in excitement, but catching herself on the back of a chair, and kept going.

She saw Sora, and threw herself at him. He grunted in pain, and she let go of him, eyes shining with worry.

"Are you okay?"

"Just a tough time with Endless. Peter managed to get them all in the end," Sora said, motioning to the younger boy, who was looking around with interest. "We would have been back sooner, but it took forever to convince Peter that he needed to come. Then forever to convince Tink that she should stay behind to help protect Never Land. It was just really confusing. I'm going to get some sleep now." He kissed her on the cheek and walked by her to their room.

"What just happened?" she asked the others.

"Sora got attacked by a hawk, I was almost eaten by a bear, Roxas got spit on by a llama, and a wolverine attacked Peter," Riku summarized. "It was a long day."

**VVVVVV**

Sora was walking down a long, winding path, sharp drop-offs to the darkness on either side of him. A sense of déjà vu coursed through him, but he didn't stop to ponder the feeling. He just kept walking, feeling tired, weary and exhausted in a way like never before. It was like every single fiber of his being was forced into keeping himself awake and walking.

As he walked, a large, intimidating castle seemed to appear out of nowhere in front of him. He stared at the structure, a feeling of familiarity coursing through him as he stared at it. He placed his hand, covered by a white glove, over his red jumpsuit where his heart was, feeling a sense of pain and loneliness pass through him.

Slowly, he walked towards the castle, pushing aside the door with relative ease. He walked into the castle, his long, black cloak swishing around his feet as he did. A wave of intense pain flashed through his body, and Roxas let out a yell as he stumbled to his knees, holding his head in his hands.

After taking several deep breathes, he slowly pushed himself off of the floor, struggling to walk up the stairs. Hallway after hallway, all Riku encountered were long, empty white rooms. There was an air of secrecy to the castle though, and he knew that he had to keep going. Something was waiting there, something hidden, something very important.

Naminé came to a stop in the top floor of Castle Oblivion, her indigo eyes staring intently at a blank wall in front of her. She reached her hand out, pressing it against the smooth, white wall.

Sora looked at the wall as if he knew that it wasn't what it seemed. His eyes took in the details, and he never once removed his hand as he said, "It's almost time to wake up."

Everything went white.

A pair of ice blue eyes snapped open, taking in the pure white room in front of them. The owner winced in pain at the sheer contrast of black and white, blinking their eyes several times before they finally adjusted. With heavy breathing, they looked around the room, trying to sit in a straighter position, but it was hard. They couldn't move, not yet.

For a moment, the ice blue eyes took in the intricate details on the white walls before slowly closing again.

"We need you. We'll find you."

The eyes snapped open again, turning towards the ceiling, and the owner nodded their head just slightly. They needed to wait just a little longer to get back their strength, but they would be needed soon. Until then, they had to remain where they were, and try to regain their strength.

The memories of feeling so lost and alone returned, but something felt so different this time. Something big was happening, they just knew it.

"Terra. Ven," came a soft whisper from the owner's lips.

The eyes closed again, and magic was silently cast to begin the physical healing process of such a long hibernation. She needed to be ready for when the time came for her to help.

"We need you. Don't worry, we'll find you. Until then, save your strength and rest, Master Aqua."

**VVVVVV**

**Author's Note**

I didn't really edit this chapter that much. So there are most likely a ton of mistakes. Just nod your head and keep telling yourself I'm blonde and can't help it. However, before someone points out that I spelled 'storey' wrong (as in floors, not a story book), it actually is correct, because it's the British spelling. If no one's noticed, I tend to lean towards Canadian/British spelling, as opposed to American spelling. No reason why, just how it is.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I know I always say this, but you guys really have no idea how much I appreciate it! So thanks goes out to: Shire Folk, Trainalf, SilverPaopu, Q-A the Authoress, Oracle's Song, xNINJABLADE45x, CommanderFlynn, small502, 16afoster, DaniPotterLovesGod, shelbysnake7, EvilxLittlexNinja, Eddie Camp, and The 666th necrophiliac.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	23. Aloha 'Oe

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Twenty-Two – Aloha 'Oe_

Kairi loved the ocean. Ever since she came to Destiny Islands, the smell of the salt air, the warm sun on her skin, and the sound of the ocean waves, soothed her like none-other. Now, it almost felt like they were back at home, not hundreds of light-years away on another world, even though they were.

She was just thankful to be off of the gummi ship, because she was starting to develop a bit of cabin fever. They went to the world of Ohana once before, so Sora knew that magic wouldn't randomly change her into something else like it did when he went to Never Land with Roxas and Riku. It took her forever to get the story out of him about how they turned into fairies, of all things. Only with some excessive bribery did Kairi agree not to tell anyone else. Sora didn't care all too much, but Kairi knew that it would somehow get back to Lea and Roxas would be humiliated, and Riku would just be utterly mortified if anyone found out.

Luckily, they were able to keep Peter Pan quiet as well.

"I like this world," She said to Sora, turning around so that she was staring at him.

Sora nodded his head, and for the first time in a long time, she saw his big, goofy, happy grin. It was a rare sight those days, because even when he did smile, they were small, subdued ones. It was nice to see his big smile again.

"Isn't this the place you got that killer burn before? Remember, when we were looking for the entrance to Twilight's Destiny?" Naminé asked her cousin.

The redhead cast a curious glance at her boyfriend, who nodded and said, "This is Ohana."

"Where do we even start looking though?" Roxas asked, flopping onto the soft, white sand and brushing his fingers through it. "You didn't mention anything about feeling a Keyblade Bearer the first time we were here."

"Was he looking for one?" Emiliana asked, leaning against one of the coconut trees and looking around with interest. Normally she seemed completely impartial to her surroundings, but the tropical world seemed to interest her.

There was only a small group of them there: Sora, Kairi, Naminé, Roxas, Riku and Emiliana. Midori was originally going to come as well, but Max wanted to perform a few tests on the ship to make sure that it was still working properly. He heard about their record of destroying gummi ships, and didn't want that to happen under his watch, so he said that he was going to check it every opportunity he got. Midori was pretty good with gummi ships, so she decided to help him out.

Kairi looked at the beautiful girl suspiciously. It seemed like, without Midori around, she was instantly more pleasant (and that was saying something), but the second the raven-haired girl was brought up, she instantly went up about ten notches on the bitch scale.

"Sora," Kairi said, "while we're here, you know, looking, can we see if they have corndogs here?"

"You don't like corndogs," Riku said before Sora could utter a syllable.

She directed her gaze at Riku and said, "Apparently she does." She motioned to her stomach. "And I really want a corndog."

"I thought you weren't supposed to eat bad stuff," Sora said, his voice very cautious, and Roxas took a few steps away from her. The day before, the blond caught her eating chocolate and bacon at the same time, and proceeded to poke fun at her until her hormones switched into rage mode. Roxas would probably never be the same again, and Sora wanted to be cautious. Though he supposed that he didn't have to worry about the threat not being able to have kids later on.

To Sora's relief, and Roxas' annoyance, she just shrugged the comment off and said, "A little bit of indulgence isn't bad. At least I'm not eating ice cream every day like before. I blame you for that too." This was directed at Roxas.

Naminé stared at her boyfriend and shook her head, but she didn't move to intervene. What he didn't know was that Kairi's anger partially stemmed from the fact that Naminé was annoyed with him. She ranted to her cousin the day before about how Roxas wasn't helpful at all in planning their wedding, and that set Kairi off with the whole food thing in turn.

It was like having an attack dog that no one would fight against, because she was pregnant.

"Okay," Sora said, breaking Naminé out of her thoughts. "There's six of us, so we should split up into groups to look around. This world doesn't seem too dangerous right now, so we should all be able to handle ourselves. I'm going to go with Kairi into the town, because she may turn cannibalistic if we don't get her a corndog. Roxas, you take Emiliana that way, check out that part of the island. Riku, go with Naminé and check out that way. Don't argue with me." Sora saw that Emiliana was about to protest. "You and Riku will have time to flirt later. Meet back here in, say, two hours?"

Everyone nodded and started heading different directions. Kairi looked around at Sora and said, "Lets go get a corndog!"

**VVVVV **

A young girl stormed down the road angrily, her face twisted into a pouting grown, her dark eyes narrowed. She folded her arms across her chest, picking slightly at the sleeve of her red dress that was printed with white flowers. She had long, black hair and tanned skin, like many of the other people who lived on her island did, but while she didn't stand out very much physically, her personality was larger than life. The small girl, Lilo Pelekai, didn't really fit in with anyone else on her island home, all of the other girls her age made her well aware of that fact (and some of the adults too). She had a wild imagination that bordered on the morbid side of things, was incredibly stubborn with a quick temper, and she adored Elvis. On top of all of that, Lilo was an orphan with only her older sister, Nani Pelekai, left. Or she only had Nani until she met her best friend. It was appropriate that, since she didn't really get along with anyone else her age no matter how much she tried, she would end up being friends with an alien experiment, of all things.

The experiment in question wasn't some horribly monstrous creature that wanted to destroy the human race, with and overbearingly big head, long limbs and grey skin that people normally associated with aliens (though, that description did resemble the Grand Councilwoman of the United Intergalactic Federation). Instead, he was small creature that had four arms (though he usually only had two, since the other two were retractable, somehow), big ears, big black eyes, and fluffy blue fur. Lilo called him her puppy to anyone who asked, but he looked more like a koala than anything else. To his creator, an evil genius alien by the name of Jumba, he was known as Experiment 626, and his purpose was to cause mayhem; he was programmed be drawn towards large cities where he would back up sewers, reverse street signs and steal everyone's left shoe. To Lilo, who manage to look past all of the problems that he caused and helped him be more than what he was programmed to be, he was her best friend, Stitch.

He wasn't the only experiment though. No, he was Experiment 626, meaning that there were 625 others that were created before him. She and Stitch took it upon themselves to help all of the other experiments find the one place they truly belonged on Earth. Lilo insisted on it, because the concept of Ohana, family, was very important to her, and that included all of Stitch's 'cousins'.

They hadn't run into any of them for a little while now, but that was okay, because there were more important things happening in Lilo's life at the moment. Mostly the fact that the movie she wanted to see as out in theatres, but Nani wouldn't let her go see it.

She looked back at Stitch, who walked along side her silently, and crossly said, "I want to see Sludge Mummies Episode Two: Attack of the Bones!"

"Nani," Stitch answered with a sigh. He could understand English perfectly, most languages actually, but he only ever spoke in short sentences. He had the ability to speak fine, but he just wasn't bothered to try. What was the point when he could get his point across just fine with only a word or two?

Lilo huffed angrily, making sure to look both ways before they crossed the street. "But Myrtle's mom lets her see PG movies any time she wants! And Nani won't even jump off a cliff either! What kind of older sister is she?"

Stitch simply shrugged at her.

With a dramatic sigh, Lilo pulled a camera out of her bag and snapped a picture of her and Stitch. "This is a picture of us, never getting to do anything fun. There's nothing worse in the world than being young. I mean, what good is it?" She paused, thinking about her own question. "Unless you're a puppy at the pound, because no one adopts the old dogs." She was suddenly saddened by the idea. "They just adopt the puppies. That's what the shelter lady said when we went to adopt you. But aside from that, being young is just totally-"

"Sora!"

She blinked at Stitch. "Being young is totally Sora? I don't even understand what that means."

Stitch shook his head, jumping around almost like an excited puppy and said, "No. Friend Sora!" Before Lilo could ask what he meant, the small alien darted away from her. Rushing towards two people Lilo was positive that she never saw before. They looked strange, probably tourists, but she couldn't help but find them fascinating. The boy had brown hair that stuck up in every direction, like he stuck his finger in a socket or something, and the girl had dark red hair, something she never saw before. Sure, Myrtle had orange-red hair, but it wasn't quite as cool as the dark red this girl had.

"Sora!"

The boy in question looked around with confusion, and Lilo was fascinated by how blue his eyes were as Stitch jumped at him, knocking him to the ground while licking his face.

She sighed and trailed after her friend. Lilo had a feeling that she wouldn't have to apologize for Stitch's behaviour to this person, but it never hurt to be prepared. She blinked with surprise when a small child, just a baby, wandered past her, and she stared at it with confusion. She tilted her head slightly, looking at the baby, positive that she saw that bald head and those tan lines before, but definitely not in a child.

She shrugged it off for now, that was a mystery that would have to be solved later.

**VVVVV **

Riku and Naminé made their way through the foliage of the island with ease. This world was so much like their own that both couldn't help but feel at ease. If Riku was honest, he was actually glad to get away from all the drama going on in their group at the moment. Between Kairi being pregnant, Sora becoming a King, Naminé and Roxas needing to get married, and Midori and Emiliana always fighting, it was a wonder that he didn't pull his silver hair out yet.

Riku decided that he was the master of patience.

Naminé stumbled slightly, but stood up straight before he could offer to help. She appeared to be deep in thought, but that didn't come as a surprise to Riku. She was, without a doubt, the quietest of their group, the thinker. She analyzed things, weighed her options, made calculated decisions. The blonde really wasn't any type of warrior. She could hold her own in a fight, but if given the choice, she preferred not to fight. Riku attributed that to the fact that Naminé worked better from the background, helping manipulate things along from the shadows rather than brashly fight like the others.

She looked up at him suddenly, indigo eyes taking him in before she said, "I'm glad I got to travel with you this time."

His own jade green eyes stared at her for a moment, trying to comprehend this before he said, "Thanks?"

Naminé smiled slightly and said, "I've just been stressed with Roxas lately, and I really don't want to deal with Sora and Kairi all that much anymore." She paused, mentally weighing the pros and cons of her next statement. "Does that make me a bad person?"

"Not wanting to be dragged into other people's business? No. That just means you value your sanity."

She chuckled a bit and said, "I guess I should clarify what I mean. Kairi doesn't complain as much as she used to about her situation, but I can't help but feel a bit annoyed when anything about her being pregnant comes up. Like earlier? We're here on a mission and all she can think of is food? It annoys me, I guess, because it's like she wants sympathy, and I just...don't have all that much anymore. We all have stuff to deal with, and I can't help but feel like she deserves what she got. Does that make me a bad person?"

"No," Riku decided after letting the heavy confession process in his mind. "It makes you human, Naminé. No one can fault you for that."

She shrugged slightly and said, "I guess. Think we're going to find anything here?"

"Out here? Probably not," he admitted. "Though it's possible that the Keyblade Bearer could have isolated himself out here. Get away from everyone."

"Sounds like it's something you've thought about," Naminé noted, though to her credit, she didn't seem to be pressuring him into actually saying anything, something Riku appreciated.

"I've given it some thought," Riku said. "Especially with all of this crazy stuff happening."

"It'd be so easy for us all, you know," Naminé said as she pushed a large leaf out of her face. She tried to keep a hold of it for Riku, but it slipped out of her hand and smacked him in the face. "Sorry."

Riku winced a bit as the small welt on his face but shrugged it off. "No worries. What would be easy for all of us?"

"To just...disappear." She seemed almost hesitant to actually suggest that. "We have a gummi ship, we can go to places where few others could follow us. We could all just leave. Be free."

"Yeah," Riku snorted. "Just tell that to Sora and he'll lecture you for an hour about how the worlds need us."

"I didn't mean now," Naminé sighed with exasperation. "I meant after this is over. Besides, I've seen Sora's memories, I've been in his mind. I know for a fact that, if we had the chance to run and escape all of this, to hide in a world like Destiny Islands, safe and away from everything, he'd tell us all to go while he stayed behind. You know it too."

Riku chuckled slightly and said, "Probably." He almost ran into her when she came to a sudden stop. "What?"

"Fork in the road," she nodded to the two paths. "Which one do we take?"

"Well," Riku thought about the layout of this place from the gummi ship, "if we go that way, we'll probably just end up close to the town, and Sora and Kairi can handle that. So I guess we should go that way. Cover more ground."

The blonde shrugged and said, "Works for me."

**VVVVV **

"So what are we supposed to be looking for exactly?" Emiliana asked Roxas as he led the way down the beach.

"Well, a person," he answered, knowing exactly how stupid it sounded. He looked back at Emiliana, who was eyeing the sheer amount of people that were sprawled out on the beaches skeptically.

There was no need for her obvious retort, but it came anyway. "Well, now that that's narrowed down..."

"I know," he sighed. He glanced around them and said, "Look, as great as the beach is, I don't think we're going to find anything here. There's a lot of people, but something just doesn't feel right about it. Everyone's too relaxed."

She looked thoughtful for a moment before she said, "What about those mountains and the cliffs by the ocean? If someone wanted to hide something, it wouldn't be that hard to use magic."

"Who would go through that effort?"

She shrugged. "Someone who decided to spend a year and a half building a fake Kingdom Hearts instead of just finding the real one?"

Roxas paused, staring at her uncertainly before his shoulder slumped down, unable to come up with a suitable comeback. "Touché. Let's go look that way."

Emiliana shook her head, crossing her arms in front of her as she followed Roxas. She stopped for a second, looking around at where she would have sworn she saw a black blur out of the corner of her eye. She stared at the area for a moment, before shrugging it off and following Roxas.

**VVVVV **

"Jumba!"

Sora looked up from where he was kneeling on the floor of Lilo's living room, having been talking to Stitch, as the little girl rushed out of the elevator that took her to her room and into the kitchen. He glanced back at Kairi, who shrugged, and he pushed himself up, deciding to go see what was going on.

To anyone else, walking into a kitchen and seeing a rather robust alien with four eyes would probably be enough to freak them out, but Sora just looked at the alien with interest, assuming that it was Jumba. Lilo was holding out a picture to said alien, who stared at it with interest.

"Yes," Jumba said while nodding his head, "it is possible that it is the same human." He thought for a second, going over a mental list in his head. "Without doubting, this is the worked of experiment 151."

"From the civic disturbances series?" Lilo asked him. Sora leaned against the door, slightly confused about what they were talking about, though, knowing that Stitch was experiment 626, he had a feeling that it had to do with one of the 'cousins' that Stitch told him about.

"Are these things really that dangerous?" Sora asked them, thinking about Stitch and how he seemed rather harmless at times, but could easily cause a lot of trouble.

Jumba instantly seemed interested in his appearance. The alien walked over and said, "Yes. All my experiments were made to be monsters to cause chaos and destruction. You are not from here."

"How'd you know?"

"You look...familiar," Jumba said, sounding uncertain. "Like someone I have seen before, a long time ago. I don't like when my memories don't add up. Why are you here?"

"We're looking for this world's Keyblade Bearer," Sora explained.

"The Keyblade Bearer? Ah yes, I know who you're looking for."

Sora instantly perked up and asked, "Who?"

Before Jumba could answer, Lilo prodded him and said, "Jumba, tell him later, there are more important things to deal with right now. Tell me about Experiment 151! It might be causing a whole lot of problems now."

Jumba looked from her to Sora and said, "The little girl is right. This may effect your search as well. It's best to get 151 out of the way first."

Sora wanted to argue, but Kairi came up beside him, taking his hand into her own and asked, "What's it doing? The experiment?"

Lilo walked over to her, passing her a picture. Sora looked down at it, and couldn't help but feel a bit confused as he stared at an extremely fat, sunburned tourist eating ice cream. At their confused looks, Lilo said, "He's one of my favourite subjects to take pictures of. These people are beautiful! Anyway, he's a baby now!"

Kairi's eyes flickered from the picture, back to Lilo and repeated, "A baby?" She didn't seem to be aware of her hand letting go of his own and resting on her swollen abdomen.

Lilo nodded her head wildly, and Jumba cleared his throat. "The idea was to turn entire populations into babies. With no grown-ups around to babysit little tike-lins, whole planets are turning into bawling, squawking, unsupervised chaos!" He let out a rather typical laugh for an evil genius scientist before adding, "Much like Jumba family dinner table. Oh I miss those days."

"So it turns people into babies?" Sora asked slowly, instantly understanding why that could cause some problems for them. "What do we do about it?"

"Eh, it eventually wears off on its own," Jumba said with a shrug.

Lilo perked up at this and asked, "When?"

"18 to 21 years, depending on the state of residence."

Kairi gave Jumba a rather flat look, but her attention was quickly dragged to Lilo, who dramatically threw out her arms and said, "18 to 21 years? We'll all be mummified by then!"

"There must be something we could do," Kairi said to Jumba. "Especially if the Keyblade Bearer was already turned into a baby."

He shrugged and said, "There is another way. We can give them a special growing up formula that reverses 151's effects."

"Why didn't you say so?" Sora asked him.

"Unfortunately, it is impossible to create formula."

The three humans stared at the alien as if he was the strangest thing that they'd ever seen. Lilo was the one to break the silence and ask, "Why?"

"New 2.0 computer refuses to read old 1.0 files," he explained simply.

Sora let out a groan and turned around to look at Kairi. "I knew we should have brought Midori with us, not Emiliana. She's the only one good with computers."

"Sora," Kairi said slowly, "no one else knows about this."

"Yeah, I know. And?"

"What if one of the others run into the experiment?"

Sora stared at her for a moment, his mouth opening and closing, unable to get out the words that he wanted to say, his eyes widening. He looked at Lilo and Jumba, before looking back at Kairi and saying, "I think we need to find them, or the experiment. Whichever one comes first."

**VVVVV **

Lilo was once again sulking. Sora and Kairi split up from them to try and find their friends to warn them that there was a monster on the loose that could turn people into babies. She was surprised how well both of them took to the statement, because most people she knew would feel embarrassed by stating something so outlandish. Sora assured her that he'd seen things that were much stranger before.

Now though, she and Stitch were wandering around the town trying to locate the experiment. They'd been looking for a while, and even stopped to ask Stitch's other cousins if they had seen or heard anything, but so far they had nothing.

Lilo sighed dramatically and looked at her friend. "Too bad Jumba's computer is broken. We don't even know what 151 looks like." Sora and Kairi decided to be wary of any experiments that they came across, but she doubted that they would cause any problems for the cousins that had already found their one true place, and vice versa.

"Achi-batcha?" Stitch said suddenly, pointing to something behind her. Lilo looked around and saw a small experiment flying by. It had a huge head that was oddly out of proportion with it's small body, and it's fur was mostly a pale pink colour. She instantly knew that it was the right experiment, because, as it flapped it's small purple wings to stay in the air, she could clearly hear that the ball on the end of it's tail was a rattle, and it also had a yellow pacifier in it's mouth.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's her," Lilo said in a rather off-hand way. There was a pause as they watched it fly up towards a roof, before she spun around to Stitch and excitedly exclaimed, "Go get her!"

Stitch jumped after the experiment, quickly scaling up the side of the building it flew to. He landed on his feet evenly, and turned to face the pink experiment. "Cousin?"

It completely ignored him, instead pausing mid flight to look at a nearby roofer. She eyed the man with interest for a moment before flying over and shaking her rattle over the man's head, a fine, pink dust surrounding him. Stitch could only stare with confusion as the dust vanished, and instead of a rather hefty man, there was a small child in a construction worker's helmet in front of him. "Huh?"

From the ground, Lilo saw the experiment fly a way, and wondered why Stitch hesitated to grab it. She got her reason a second later, when a baby tried to crawl of the edge of the roof. She let out a gasp of horror, and was about to run forward to try and catch him, but Stitch grabbed him by his leg just in time, pulling him back up onto the roof.

Stitch made sure the baby couldn't crawl away again by putting his suspenders around the thin, metal, chimney pipe. He would have brought him to the ground, but the sound of quickly fluttering wings caught his attention, and he knew that his cousin was back.

The two experiments stared at one another for a moment before the pink one shot towards Stitch. There was a flash of light, and a metal object, a Keyblade, appeared in his hand. He threw up a shield just in time to stop the pink dust from hitting him, but that wasn't stopping the experiment. She looked back at him for a moment before charging as quickly as she could. Stitch jumped into the air and let his Keyblade vanish, instead grasping the bucket that was beside him, throwing that on top of the experiment. He looked around for something to hold it in, and decided to use the roofer's spade.

He picked up the bucket and carefully walked toward the edge of the roof. The baby that he left there was making weird noises, but he could hear an adult already coming towards the roof, so Stitch knew that the baby would be fine. He jumped to the ground in front of Lilo, who sighed with relief.

"Good job Stitch. Now let's get out of here."

Stitch shoved the bucket and the experiment (somehow) into Lilo's backpack, so that it wouldn't fly away and he could still fill the role of strange looking dog. They walked around the corner, and his eyes locked onto Sora and Kairi, who were walking on the opposite side of the street not to far from them, he was about to run to them, but another voice caught his attention.

"Oh, look Myrtle. It's your little friend, Lilo. Lilo! Over here!"

**VVVVV **

"Mom!" Myrtle cried out in her whiny voice. "Don't!"

Kairi looked around, Lilo's name having been the first thing that caught her attention. She looked at the little red-haired girl that was whining, and instantly decided that she didn't like that child.

She watched as Lilo walked towards the woman and the four little girls, and the mother asked, "Do you want to see Sludge Mummies with us? We have a few extra seats."

The little red haired girl, who Kairi assumed was Myrtle, put her hands on her hips and said, "Mom, that seat is for our purses. Right girls?"

"Yeah," the other three chimed in.

Kairi felt Sora shuffle beside her and looked around at him. He was staring at the girls with an odd expression. His blue eyes flickered to Kairi and he said, "Are all kids that bratty?"

"Of course not! We weren't!"

He remembered how Riku convinced him, for only a short period of time, that they couldn't be friends with Kairi because she didn't, in child-Riku's words, 'have the right pee-pee', and they were pretty bratty to her that week. He didn't point that out to her though, his attention once again being grabbed by Lilo, who spoke fairly loudly. Her answer caught him completely off guard.

"No thanks, Mrs. Myrtle's mom. I've got an alien in my backpack, and we've really gotta get it home quick to have it genetically redesigned."

Kairi's mouth fell open and she was silent for a moment as Myrtle's mom seemed to humour her answer like it was just a child's wild imagination. She looked around at Sora and said, "Well, she's honest."

"No kidding."

"Lilo! I told you no sludge mummy movies!"

"That must be her sister," Sora said, watching as a jeep pulled up at the side walk, the young woman in the driver's seat bearing a strong resemblance to the young girl.

"Nani?" the little girl seemed stunned. "But I—I didn't-"

"Didn't think I'd come by and check? Well you were wrong!"

Lilo stared at her sister with wide eyes, and then her backpack jerked slightly, bringing her out of her stupor. She glanced back at it before quickly pushing Stitch towards the jeep. Stitch looked back at them, but Sora just waved to him, letting him know that it was alright to leave them.

"Well, that was interesting," Kairi said as they watched them drive away, hearing Nani lecture Lilo, while Lilo argued back.

"You know, I've been an only child most of my life. At least what I remember," Sora said. "And I'm thinking it's a good thing. There's a bigger age difference between Lilo and her sister than there would be between me and Ven, but still...I could see him harassing me like that."

Kairi looked over at him and asked, "How do you know that?"

He seemed slightly startled at her question, his eyes turning towards the ground as he said, "I feel like I'm starting to remember him. On my own. I don't know why. Just little things."

"Maybe that's why Jumba thought you looked familiar. Maybe he knew Ven. Maybe everyone's starting to remember!" She sounded excited by the prospect. Kairi knew how much Sora wished he could remember his older brother, and maybe he was finally getting his wish.

Instead of looking excited, Sora looked rather disturbed by the concept. "But why?"

She had to admit, it was a good question. Why would the memories suddenly start coming back now? The only reason she could think of was that something was forcing them back. That could have been good or bad. Still, she didn't want Sora to dwell on the possibility that someone might be messing with their memories again. She took his hand into her own, squeezing it gently before saying, "Lets go back to looking for the others. I think Lilo got the experiment, but you know, we should find them. Especially if Jumba knows who has the Keyblade."

"You're right," he nodded his head. "Lets go."

**VVVVV **

The sound of footsteps from behind him stopped, and Roxas fought not to groan with frustration. He swore, if Emiliana wanted to stop to take a break one more time, he was going to push her off the cliff.

"What now? You seriously can't be ti—"

"Shut up," she hissed quickly, and he turned to look at her with confusion. She wasn't staring at him or even sitting on the ground, instead she was moving close to the side of the cliffs, her hands resting on the tall boulders that separated them from a nasty fall. She glanced back at him and asked, "Can't you hear that?"

Roxas stopped his internal cursing and strained to listen. He was pretty surprised when he heard the sound of metal meeting stone over and over again, though he wasn't sure if his surprise stemmed from the fact that he hadn't heard it in the first place, or that Emiliana was the one to point it out.

The two of them moved to the edge and looked over the boulders. Roxas squinted with confusion, trying to make sense of the scene below him, but no matter which way he looked at it, nothing made sense. There were Nobodies digging a cave.

"The hell?" he asked, craning his neck to get a better look. "Why would Nobodies do that?"

"Aren't Nobodies just lifeless bodies that are forced to do whatever the one who controls them wants?" Emiliana asked, though by her tone, he could tell that she didn't care for the answer. That didn't stop him from sending her a sharp glare though.

Instead, Roxas focused on the scene before then and said, "I wonder what they're doing?"

"Maybe we should go see," she suggested.

Roxas found that a little odd, because that would involve scaling the cliff, and she didn't like anything to do with needlessly getting dirty. Still, there was obviously something going on down there, and they needed to figure out what it was. By the time they got back to where everyone else was, and got back to that spot, the Nobodies might be gone.

Carefully, they started scaling over the rocks, able to keep their balance much easier than a normal person would have. Still, they worked their way down slowly, careful not to fall off. The rocks at the bottom would make a good cover from the Nobodies, but they would be painful to fall on.

Roxas got down first and said, "Jump the rest of the way, I'll catch you." He was slightly surprised when she actually did, but still managed to catch her. They quietly crept around the rocks, keeping out of sight of the Nobodies. He narrowed his eyes slightly at the cave and said, "We need to get in there to see what's going on."

"Well, we're not just going to be walking in there," she observed.

Roxas frowned before it was quickly replaced by a grin. "That's exactly what we're going to do." He turned to face the Nobodies again. "We just need to hit them all with one blow. As quietly as we possibly can."

Emiliana pursed her lips in thought before saying, "If only your witch-girlfriend was here."

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, instantly defensive over the description.

"Calm yourself," she held up her hands. "I meant witch as in a magic user. We need a sleep spell. Then we can take them out without anyone knowing."

Roxas was stunned. "That's...actually a really good idea."

She rolled her deep purple eyes and sighed dramatically. "I'm not all looks, you know."

He eyed her for a moment, and shook his head as he said, "Right. You're pretty good with magic—"

"What makes you say that?"

"The tournament? You owned that guy with your razor leaf."

She frowned. "I'm good with magic that involves earth and plants. I'm not so good with things like sleep or time."

"You have to be better than me," he noted. "Knock 'em out, and then I'll jump 'em."

"You're the boss...at least since the real boss isn't here." Before he could ask what she meant, she rushed around the rocks to get closer to the Nobodies.

**VVVVV **

Lilo really wished that Sora and Kairi were there. She felt like she was going to rip out her black hair.

She thought her day would turn out better when they caught the experiment, but it was never that easy. She should have known that something bad would happen. Of course the experiment had to go and turn everyone into babies. This included Nani, Jumba, Pleakley and Stitch.

She thought it'd be fun at first, because she was the oldest, and she was in charge. She really just wanted to crawl in her bed and hide until others turned back into normal. Of course, that was in 18 years. She wondered if she could go into a time warp or something.

"Evil! Haha!"

"Play time! Play time!"

"No!"

"I made oops in my pants."

Lilo groaned and put her head in her hands and she yelled, "No! Stop it!"

They all pause and stared at her until a tiny, teary-eyed Pleakley said, "I made more oops in my pants." That's when they all started crying loudly.

"This couldn't get any worse!" The roof was suddenly peeled back, and she looked up in exasperation. "I take that back. Go away Gantu! It's almost nap-time and I don't have time for you."

The shark-like alien ignored her, his eyes focusing on the experiment that was still trapped in it's test tube. "Ah ha! I knew I'd find you here, you pudgy-little-winged-abomination." He reached forward and grabbed the test tube.

"No! Put him down, you big dummy!"

"Who's going to stop me, little girl?" he sneered at her. "You and your infant army?" Pleakley stuck his tongue out at him but ended up falling over and crying.

Lilo honestly had no idea what to do.

**VVVVV **

Naminé was more than fascinated by the colourful vegetation in Ohana. It was so much like Destiny Islands, but at the same time, so different. She and Riku walked silently along the edge of a small spring, following it without really much of a purpose. They'd long wandered away from where people might have been, but neither particularly cared.

They didn't discuss it anymore, but both of them just wanted to be away from everyone else for a while. Both Naminé and Riku liked the idea of silence more than any of their other friends did, though Midori seemed to understand from time to time.

Their silence was interrupted though as a huge, shark-like alien rushed past them, carrying a small creature in a glass tube. Both just stood in silence for a moment.

"What did I just see?"

"I ask myself that a lot too when it comes to these adventures," Riku admitted. "Might as well check it out."

Naminé nodded, and they both started running after the alien. They didn't have to follow him far though, because the ship that he went into was at the base of a waterfall that made the stream that they were following.

"He needs better security," she noted. "Should we go inside?"

"Wait for a second," Riku advised her. "Listen, you can hear him and...someone else...this thing echos a lot."

They both stayed out of sight, just out of the door of the ship, listening to the conversation inside.

"A baby-making experiment? Don't humans have the ability to do that on their own?"

They look at one another, not quite sure what was going on. Their moment of distraction stopped them from hearing what else was going on until they heard (what they assumed was) the shark-alien exclaim, "Hey, how'd you get out?"

There was a loud snort of laughter, followed by the other voice saying, "Sorry G, I just couldn't resist. I always wondered if you started out as a guppy or a tadpole. Turns out you were just a smaller kind of ugly. Woah! Aerial attack!"

The door suddenly flew open, and both of them jumped back some more. They saw the little creature that had once been inside the glass tube fly away.

"Should we follow it?"

"It's really none of our business," Riku decided, but he seemed hesitant. It was only when another alien ran by, pushing what looked like a smaller version of the alien-shark in a stroller that he changed his mind. "Maybe we should check it out."

**VVVVV**

Kairi rocked baby Nani, finally getting her to sleep while baby Pleakley and Jumba snoozed on the couch. She wasn't sure what to make of the situation when she and Sora came back to find a distressed Lilo and several babies who had once been adults. Lilo explained that it was what the experiment did.

Jumba had gotten into his own computer, much to Lilo's annoyance. She was instantly impressed though, when she realized that he fixed the computer and brought up the recipe to make the babies older again.

When she asked how he did it, the only thing Jumba said was, "Evil genius child prodigy."

They needed one cup of milk, three mashed bananas, two teaspoons of apple sauce and coffee. Sora made a face when it was listed off, but Kairi thought that it sounded delicious, before reminding herself that she wasn't supposed to drink coffee. He took Lilo and baby Stitch out to go and get the ingredients, while she stayed back to take care of the three other babies.

Though the situation was a bit odd, Kairi found herself liking dealing with the young children. It was probably her maternal instincts kicking in, since in a few months time she was going to have her own baby, but it didn't really matter.

"Kairi, we have a problem," Sora's voice called out, sounding torn between being exasperated and highly amused.

She only heard one set of footprints though, and replied with, "Where are Lilo and Stitch?"

"They're dealing with Gantu, but, umm...we didn't get all the ingredients yet but...well..." He walked into the room, and Kairi had to stop herself from laughing so that she wouldn't wake Nani up.

In each of Sora's arms was a baby version of Naminé and Riku. Well, not really in his arms, he was trying desperately to hold both of them, but they were both trying to crawl all over him and trying to smack each other.

"What happened?"

"Apparently the thing, Lilo's calling it Baby-Fier, got out. They were tracking it and this happened. Or so Naminé said. Actually, she said 'bad alien take cute alien and fat alien run after cute alien and we run after aliens and then we baby'. I quote that exactly as she—stop it!" They were starting to tug at his hair, and he shot them both an annoyed look, setting them down on the couch.

"No!" Naminé suddenly cried out, launching herself back at Sora. He had to jerk forward to catch her so that she wouldn't face plant onto the floor, and the second that she was in his arms, she giggled madly and put her head on his shoulder.

"That's adorable," Kairi said with a big smile as she moved Nani onto the other couch. The adorable moment only lasted a second though, because then she tugged on his hair roughly.

Sora didn't say anything about that though, because his attention was taken by baby Riku, who held onto his leg tightly, sitting on his foot. He stared up at him with big, green eyes, and said, "I poop my pants."

"Oh god," he groaned, carefully trying to shake Riku off of his foot. "This is why I didn't want—" He stopped, cutting himself off. He knew exactly what he wanted to say, but Sora wasn't about to say it out loud. At least not directly too Kairi. "Please get him off."

"I'm not changing his pants, that'd be awkward," Kairi said as she tried to pry Riku off of Sora's leg, but he latched himself on tightly. "You do it."

"No way." He paused in thought, wincing a bit as Naminé tugged at his hair again. "Think if we leave it, when he turns back into normal, it'll still be there? That'd be embarrassing."

"Sora!"

As if agreeing with Kairi's protest, Naminé suddenly started coughing and threw up a bit on Sora's shirt. He stared at the baby version of his friend, mentally telling himself that he wasn't allowed to pitch her across the room. That'd be bad.

Yes, he decided, he was going to be horrible with kids, and the next few years were going to royally suck.

**VVVVV **

Roxas didn't like the cave that they managed to sneak into. The tunnel was huge, and he was willing to bet that they didn't actually tunnel it out themselves. He wondered what they were doing out there, unless they were making noise to draw them into the cavern. That was insane though, because why would they want them there? Unless they just wanted to bring them to a place where no one could hear them scream.

He really needed to stop watching murder mysteries with Naminé. He was making himself paranoid.

"I think we should go back."

Roxas looked around at Emiliana, who had the sense to whisper, though it still felt like she screamed in the cave. He could see her eyes shifting around, almost like she was looking at something specific, but when he turned, there was nothing there.

"We just got here," he insisted, trying to shrug off his own paranoia. "This is probably important."

She followed him silently, her hand flexing slightly as if she wanted to summon her Keyblade at that moment. Roxas couldn't help but find that she seemed awfully shifty, and started to wonder if she was claustrophobic or something. The cavern was fairly big, but still, being underground could freak anyone out.

"Hey, Emi?" She looked up at him. "We'll be f—" A loud clank echoed through the tunnel, cutting off his encouragement. He instantly shot around, cerulean eyes darting from one side of the dark cave to the next, not seeing anything at first. Then he saw something shift to his right.

Emiliana let out a scream and summoned her Keyblade, and Roxas barely had time to tell what was happening as the ground exploded around them, huge chunks of rocks flying up at them. Emiliana wasn't expecting the attack, and fell to the ground, unconscious, before it even ended.

Roxas cursed under his breath and then he saw something moving out of the corner of his eye. He summoned his Keyblade and whipped around, the loud clang of metal meeting metal echoing through the cavern. He grunted under the sheer force and strength of the attack, but what almost made him waver was his realization that the weapon he was blocking was a Keyblade.

He looked at his attacker, but he couldn't make out a face. He narrowed his eyes and jumped backwards. "Light!" The powerful attack shot forward and forced the figure backwards, but the purpose wasn't to attack. It was to light up the cave so that he could see what he was dealing with, if only for a second. Roxas couldn't believe what he was seeing, because it looked like a knight from head to toe with armour that was mostly a brown and bronze. He doubted that the attacker got a good look at him though.

Roxas winced as the huge figure launched itself at him. He jumped backwards, and quickly realized that his only advantage at the moment was his speed. This guy was huge, but he was definitely slower. Roxas hesitated to lead him outside though, because Emiliana was still on the ground and he could turn around and attack her. Using light to blind the knight again, Roxas grabbed the smaller girl, glad that she was so light, and pulled her onto his back before rushing off. He couldn't run long distances with her, but he could get them out of the cave. He could hear the figure following them, and let out a breath of relief when he saw the entrance of the cave.

The knight's Keyblade flew by him, just grazing against his cheek and causing him to wince. Roxas still toppled to the ground, though he wasn't hit hard. He pushed Emiliana behind a rock outcropping and summoned his Keyblade once again, turning to face their attacker. This time he attacked first.

They Keyblades met one another with a loud clang, but Roxas didn't give into the knight's strength this time. He used his speed to his advantage by landing as many hits as he possibly could. He didn't really seem to be doing any damage though, since this person had the unfair advantage of being completely covered in armour.

Roxas let out a yelp of pain as he was thrown backwards by a powerful attack, flipping on the ground roughly. He started to get up, but was then struck by some sort of blizzard magic. He could feel parts of his body instantly going numb and freezing, but he couldn't give up. He needed to get Emiliana out of there and warn everyone else of this dangerous person.

He could hear the sound of metal and rock meeting, and looked up as the large, armoured man came towards him. The second that he actually looked up though, the knight stopped and just stared at him. The only sound was the small groan of pain that would escape Roxas as he tried to move, feeling the cold seeping into his skin, the rest of the aches and pains in his body catching up to him until he wasn't able to stay conscious anymore, a distinct feeling of failure passing through him.

Just before he lost complete consciousness though, Roxas would have swore he heard the figure say, "Ven?"

**VVVVV **

Emiliana let out a groan as her eyes fluttered open, a sharp pain rushing through her skull. She managed to fight her way through it and tried to push herself off of the cold, damp ground, wincing when her arm gave out with another sharp pain. She gritted her teeth together, blinking open her eyes once again, and finally getting herself up into a sitting position. She had no idea how long she was out, but the fighting stopped, she could tell because of how silent it was.

She got up and moved out of the cave, more than a little confused. While she and Roxas didn't necessarily get along, she knew that he wouldn't just leave her unconscious somewhere. When she got to the entrance of the cave though, Emiliana got her answer about what happened.

She rushed forward, dropping to her knees beside Roxas' unconscious form. Parts of him were frozen, and his breathing was really shallow and uneven. She didn't have to be a genius to figure out that he needed help, and he needed it now.

"Son of a—" She got up and looked around, knowing that they needed to get back to the gummi ship as quickly as possible, but she definitely wasn't physically strong enough to carry him. There had to be some way that she could get in touch with them. If she didn't, there was a chance that Roxas wouldn't survive.

**VVVVV **

Riku was humiliated, fully remembering exactly what occurred when he was a baby. To be fair, Naminé seemed just as embarrassed and shy about the whole ordeal. Kairi was amused, but Sora seemed rather eager to leave Ohana, though Riku wasn't quite sure why.

"You said you'd tell us who the Keyblade Bearer was," the brunet said to Jumba pointedly.

"Oh, yes I forgot," the four eyed alien admitted. "It's Experiment 626, which is very odd. I have been trying to figure out why, but was unable to."

Sora's mouth fell open and he said, "You're kidding, right? It's been Stitch all along!"

"I'm glad you didn't know, because then you could stay to help," Lilo said to him, staring up at him with her big brown eyes, and his anger diminished a bit. "Stitch, it's okay if you need to go with them for a while. Just always remember, this place, us, we're you're Ohana. I know you'll always come back."

"Best friends," Stitch replied, giving Lilo a tight hug. He turned to Sora and said, "We go."

"What about Roxas and Emiliana?" Riku asked. "Have they been in contact at all?"

"No, how could they?" Kairi said with a shake of her head.

"Sora! Riku! Kairi! Naminé!"

They looked around and saw Midori rushing towards them, a panicked look on her tanned features. She came to a stop in front of them, but before anyone could ask, she said, "Roxas is hurt, pretty badly."

"What happened?" Naminé asked, indigo eyes widening in horror.

"Emiliana said that they were checking out the cave we found them by, because there were Nobodies there, but it was a trap and they were attacked. Don't ask how she managed to get a hold of us, just be thankful that she did," Midori said, rushing to say everything before anyone could interrupt. "We got him back, but we could really use your healing powers, Naminé."

The blonde didn't say anything else. She just started running towards the warp spot. She could hear the others thanking everyone else, but she didn't care, the only thing that matter was getting to Roxas.

**VVVVV **

**Author's Note**

I have no explanation why I haven't updated in about eight months aside from the fact that I just didn't feel like writing anything at all, though I've been working on something original here and there, and I've been designing things more, including covers for this and it's two prequels.

Sorry for the super long wait, I tried to make this chapter extra long to make up for that! Don't worry, it will NOT be another year for the next chapter, maybe a week or so. That I can guarantee.

_**Krystal Lily Potter **_


	24. Out of Thin Air

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Twenty-Three – Out Of Thin Air _

Midori tapped her fingers on the control panel of the gummi ship, taking over for Max while he took a quick nap. The boy was dedicated, keeping himself up long hours to make sure that the gummi ship was running smoothly, and that everyone else could get some rest.

Midori's thoughts turned to Roxas, who woke up the first time to hallucinations, and then the second time to a bad cold. So that she could keep an eye on him, Naminé and Riku traded rooms, and now Riku was acting as her roommate. It was more awkward than it probably should have been given that they were close friends, but it wasn't her fault that Riku liked to spend his time flirting with Emiliana.

She really disliked the brunette, even if she didn't have a good reason for it. The younger girl got on every nerve that she had. Still, even Midori had to commend her for figuring out a way to contact the ship to get Roxas help, especially since she too had been injured. It was the only silent praise that Midori was going to give her.

They were heading towards Agrabah to fetch Aladdin, and Midori hoped that this world wouldn't have too many problems with it. If it wasn't for what happened to Roxas and Emiliana, Ohana would have been fairly tame. There were no Heartless, no Nobodies outside of what Roxas and Emiliana saw, and no Endless. That was always a good sign. She prayed that Agrabah would be the same, but at the same time, she highly doubted it.

She pushed her raven hair out of her eyes as she monitored the ship, which was on autopilot. The clock said that it was six in the morning, and she had been awake for two hours so far. Soon others would begin rising though, most of the Keyblade Bearers that they collected already were used to getting up early for different reasons.

Midori leaned back in the pilot's chair, and closed her eyes, deciding to enjoy the silence while she could.

**VVVVV**

"_Sora?"_

_He jumped before twisting around and looking at her, surprise and a bit of fear on his face. It faded as he saw who was behind him, and he whispered, "Aqua."_

_Aqua walked over to him and knelt down on the sand beside him. He stared up at her with teary eyes, and she asked, "Why are you out here alone?"_

_"Bad guy's gone," Sora said while looking out over the water, misery pumping through his heart. "But so is Venny."_

_"Oh, Sora…" _

_"Aqua?" Sora said, looking up at her. "Why did Venny have to go? My daddy left too when I was little and so did Roxas. Did I do something wrong? Do I make people leave?"_

_Aqua moved so that she was sitting on the sand instead of kneeling and held out her arms to him. Sora got up and willingly let her hold him close while sitting on her lap. He cried against her shoulder and asked, "Is it my fault?"_

_"No Sora," she whispered while rocking him, and to Sora, it sounded like she was about to cry too. "None of this is your fault. Sometimes people just have to leave, even if we don't want them too."_

_"But why does everyone leave me?" Sora asked. "Is mommy going to leave too?"_

_She was silent for a moment, and Sora was so sure that he was right and she just didn't know what to say, but then Aqua began speaking again. "Your mommy won't leave you Sora, and nobody is leaving you. This has nothing to do with you. There are just some bad people out there who make good people leave us. You didn't do anything wrong. I promise you."_

_"Why do bad people hurt good people?"_

_"I wish I knew," she answered him, resting her chin on the top of his head. It was really comforting. _

_"Someone is going to come back here and hurt mommy and me," Sora muttered. "Venny was here to protect us but now he's not but people will use his memories to hurt other people. Venny would be sad."_

_"Oh Ven," he heard her whisper after a moment of silence. _

_Sora sniffled loudly before speaking quietly, not really sure if he wanted her to hear him or not. . "It hurts."_

_"What does?"_

_"My heart. My mommy's heart. Venny's gone and it just hurts and mommy cries all the time and she's always sad. I don't want mommy to be sad. I don't want anyone to hurt her anymore. I just—it hurts Aqua."_

Sora's eyes snapped open, and he stared up at the ceiling of the gummi ship, not really comprehending what it was he just saw. He knew it was a dream, but at the same time, he didn't know if it was only a dream. It felt stronger than something his mind made up. It felt like reality, like a memory that was sleeping for a very long time.

He briefly wondered why Naminé hadn't really noticed the holes in his memory when she was altering it in Castle Oblivion, but then he reminded himself that she didn't need to go that far back in time. She just needed to go far enough back to replace herself with Kairi, just after the faulty memories.

The more Sora thought about it, the more positive he was that it was actually a memory.

"Are you okay?"

He jumped a bit, not expecting Kairi to be awake already. When he looked over at her, confusion rushed through him when he saw that she was already showered and in her clothes, a very slight bump visibly under the think part of her shirt. Without that part, it was very obvious that she was with child

"Yeah, just a weird dream," he answered, pushing himself up in the bed. "What are you doing awake so early?"

"Early? You slept in, lazy bum," she replied teasingly.

Sora looked around at the clock that was in the room, and saw that it said 11:34. Though he did have that vivid dream, he felt a little more relaxed and rested than he had in the last few days, which was definitely a good thing.

Kairi sat beside him on the bed and asked, "What did you dream about? I had a pretty strange one too."

"I was talking to someone, Aqua. You know, Ven's friend that Mickey told us about? I think it was the last time I saw her," he admitted.

Kairi frowned and said, "She has blue hair and eyes, right?"

"Yeah."

"I think I saw her too," Kairi admitted, sounding like her mind was suddenly somewhere else. "She was trying to help me, but someone else, I don't know who, pushed me into the darkness. I think...I think it might have been the last time I was ever in Radiant Garden, to be honest."

He nodded his head slowly, a frown appearing on his face. "But why now?"

"I don't know," she said, running a hand through his spiky hair. "What I do know is that you should get up. We're almost at Agrabah. You should probably go have a shower and get something to eat."

Sora stretched out his arms and said, "Okay. Did you eat?"

She blushed a bit and said, "More than once already. She's going to eat as much as you do."

He just chuckled and shook his head, in a surprisingly good mood, so the mention of the baby didn't bother him. "Aren't you supposed to be eating healthy?"

She puffed up her cheeks and said, "I don't care what those books or some old nun-nurse says. If it wants sugar, it's getting sugar."

He just rolled his eyes and left the room to get in the shower.

**VVVVV**

Roxas stared out of the porthole in his room, his cerulean eyes not really focusing on the stars that they streaked by, he just wanted to look at something else that wasn't his arm, neck or a part of his face. All of them were still red, and though Naminé was sure that they could find magic to rid him of the damage that the ice left on him, it didn't stop him from feeling a bit insecure about it now. He fought worse before, but somehow, that knight over took him.

Then again, he was something different all together. None of Roxas' toughest enemies ever fought with a Keyblade. Yes, he fought Riku and Sora before, but that was different. The only time he truly fought someone who used a Keyblade was back just before he left the Organization. A flash of black hair crossed his vision for a second, and he realized that it must have been Crysita that he fought.

He told the others about the Keyblade wielding man in armour, but he didn't tell them what he was nearly positive that he heard. The man said Ven's name. He was sure of it. Not just Ventus though, which was what most people knew him as, from what Roxas gathered. Ven seemed to be the name that those close to him used. He knew that the memories of his brother were slowly returning, and anyone with those memories might give him a double take, since he looked exactly like him, but what he wanted to know was the identity of his attacker.

Roxas looked up as Naminé came into the room. She sat beside him, gave him a quick kiss on the lips, and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Better."

She nodded her head, not really expecting an elaborate response. "Sora's finally up. I talked to him and he thinks it'd be best if you stayed here. Just until you're a little better."

Roxas rolled his eyes and said, "Yet he'll let the pregnant girl go. I've been to Agrabah, I know my way around."

"I know you do," she assured him. "It's up to you, that's just what he thinks."

"What do you think?"

"I'd like it if you'd stay here," Naminé admitted. "I'll stay with you."

"Can we just stay in here and not do anything else?" Roxas asked her, sounding more like a little child asking for a toy. "If we're here, I wanna just stay in here." It wasn't that he didn't like all of the other Keyblade Bearers that they gathered, it was just too many people for Roxas. Even when he was in the Organization, Xemnas made sure that there was a lot of room for everyone, so it never felt crowded. They were all shoved onto a gummi ship though, and he honestly wished they could go back to the time when it was (in a way) just him, Naminé, Sora and Kairi jumping from world to world. He didn't see why they couldn't do that with corridors of light. Sora could open them no problem.

Roxas understood why Kairi wouldn't be able to tag along in that case, but really, that was just a bonus. A young woman who was starting to be visibly pregnant running into dangerous situations was a little stupid.

Naminé apparently agreed with him sometime during his musings, because she moved and sat on the bed, her legs stretched out as she started drawing something in her sketchbook. Lately, Naminé never let him see exactly what she was drawing, but it seemed to trouble her a little bit. If she didn't want to talk about it though, he wasn't going to make her.

**VVVVV**

Those who hadn't been to Agrabah before were all taken back by just how hot it actually was. Luckily, they were dropped off just outside of the city walls, so they got out of the scorching sunlight and into the shade fairly fast.

"I'm going to get one hell of a sunburn," Emiliana said with an annoyed groan as she leaned against the wall. It was probably true, due to her fair skin.

Midori just smiled at her and said, "We have a mission to do. It's not a beauty contest." Of course, she wasn't really worried about burning thanks to her darkly tanned skin. She never once burned while on Destiny Islands, in fact, her skin tended to get a bit darker, but burns were completely foreign to the raven haired girl.

"Are you going to be okay?" Sora asked Kairi, putting his hand on her shoulder to get her attention, his cerulean eyes practically shining with worry. "It's really hot here."

"It's not humid like home though," she pointed out. "That'd be worse. I'm okay." She gave him a reassuring look, but Sora couldn't help but still feel a bit worried. He remembered one of his mother's friends had been pregnant when he was thirteen, so he was old enough to understand what was going on. He asked her if her friend should be walking around in the heat, but Ayame assured him that pregnant women weren't as fragile as they were sometimes portrayed. That wasn't going to stop him from worrying about her health though.

"Tell me again why we're the only ones that came here?" Emiliana asked. Only she, Sora, Kairi and Midori went down to Agrabah, leaving everyone else behind.

"Roxas isn't feeling too good, but the only way he was staying behind was if Naminé stayed. Smaller groups are usually less noticeable anyway. That, and though Aladdin and Jasmine understand that Riku's a good guy now, from what I heard, her father is a bit bitter about the whole situation of him kidnapping her and all."

"Fair enough," Midori replied with a shrug of her shoulders, her dark brown eyes taking in the people milling around. The entire city, though it definitely looked very poor, still seemed alive with activity and a happy buzz echoed through the air. "I wonder what's going on?"

"You don't know?" a little old man asked. He happened to be passing them by, and heard what she said. "Travelers, huh? Well, let me tell you...come closer dear." Midori stared at him oddly before shrugging and moving slightly closer to him. There was a sudden explosion of blue smoke with tiny fireworks flying everywhere in front of them, and Midori let out a surprised yelp as he pulled her into a hug. "Aladdin and Jasmine are finally getting married!"

"Genie!" Sora laughed, happy to see his old friend. Kairi giggled behind him, and Emiliana was even cracking a smile as well, though it was most likely because of Midori's expression of sheer discomfort.

"Aladdin and Jasmine are getting married?" Kairi asked him, her indigo eyes widening with excitement. She met Jasmine back in Hallow Bastion during their first adventure, and liked the Princess' free spirit and spitfire personality.

"That is corr-ECT!" Genie yelled as he put Midori down, allowing fireworks to explode behind him in Aladdin and Jasmine's names, surrounded by a heart. "It's good to see ya Sora! Oh, and this must be Kairi. I've heard all about you. I was too busy all those other times to stop by and say hello."

He was about to hug her tightly, but Sora stepped in between them. "Maybe you shouldn't hug her so hard."

"Why?" Genie stared at Kairi critically for a moment before his eyes widened and he said, "Oh. Ohhh, I see. Looks like Al is a bit behind, isn't he?" He nudged Sora playfully. "Name him after me, will ya? Genie Hikari. Has a ring to it."

"We'll keep that in mind," Sora replied dryly. He was glad though that Genie got distracted easily, because the blue spirit (or whatever he actually was) turned to face the other two girls.

"Who are you two?"

"I'm Midori," the eldest said, trying to be polite, though he did just crush her in a hug.

"Emiliana," the brunette replied stiffly, staring at Genie warily.

"Now, now, no angry faces today!" Genie said happily, hugging both girls so tightly, that they were shoved up against one another, much to both their disgust. "I am the one, the only, the all-powerful, all-mighty, Genie of the Lamp! Here's my card." He handed both of them a card after he set them down.

Genie turned his attention to Sora once again while the girls were dusting themselves off, and asked, "So, what brings you here. The only problems we have here is if the napkins compliment the table cloths. Oh I know, you came for the wedding! I would have sent an invite, but cross galaxy mail is so expensive, you know?"

"Unfortunately, we didn't even know there was one," Kairi admitted. "Or we all might have dressed a little more properly."

"Not a problem." Genie snapped his fingers and all of their clothes changed, making it look like they fit in with the high class of Agrabah society. "Perfect! We better get to the palace!" Once again, he snapped his fingers, and they suddenly found themselves in a completely different place.

Kairi couldn't take that in though, because her face turned a bit green and the only thing that stopped her from throwing up over the floor was the fact that Genie magicked a bucket right in front of her.

"Kairi! Are you okay?" Sora asked her, rubbing her back. She didn't usually throw up anymore.

"Baby doesn't like teleportation," she admitted. "At least not that kind."

"Sorry about that," Genie said sheepishly after she was done, offering her some mouthwash, which she gladly used, and spiriting the mess away afterwards. "Here, these help."

Kairi stared at the crackers that appeared in her hands oddly before shrugging and nibbling on one of them, seemingly content for the moment.

"Where is Aladdin anyway?" Sora asked, once he was sure that Kairi was okay.

"Pre-wedding jitters," Genie said. "I'll get him and the rug-man soon. So, I assume there's a reason you're here, but maybe it can wait until after this?"

Emiliana looked like she was about to protest, not liking the hot air at all, but Midori stepped in front of her and said, "It's not a problem."

"Great! You can sit in those seats right there! I have to go find the groom!" He then vanished in a puff of smoke.

The four of them took their seats, but Emiliana said, "Great. Can't we just grab 'em and go? I don't want to stay in this horrible, sand-oven world. I'm surprised it's not made out of glass, it's that hot."

"I'm surprised you know that glass is made from sand," Midori replied in a rather off handed way. "Besides, it's his wedding. We are not going to be horrible people and drag him away beforehand." Emiliana just shrugged.

Kairi leaned her head on Sora's shoulder and said, "I hope Genie remembers to turn our clothes back. I like mine. They make this look less noticeable." She put her hand on her stomach, which was much more visible thanks to the pale, snug fabric that stretched across it.

"He will. I'll beat it out of him," Sora joked.

They, and everyone around them, settled down when Aladdin appeared with Genie. Aladdin looked out in the crowd, and did a double take when he saw Sora, who just smiled and waved at him.

_'Hey Rox, we're totally at a wedding right now,' _Sora said to his brother mentally. _'Makes me sad to think that you're going to be chained down like this soon too.'_

_'I'm chained down? I could still run and be done with it. You have a biological connection to Kairi now. If I'm chained, you're cemented,' _Roxas replied._ 'Who's wedding?'_

_'You're an ass and I hope you panic before your wedding. Aladdin's. We'll probably be a little while.' _

Sora was instantly distracted as Genie turned himself into what looked like the White Rabbit from Wonderland, and rushed through the large, jade doors. He reappeared a second later, blowing a horn that echoed through the room.

Girls carefully tossing flowers walked into the room as music started to play, and they were followed by four guards carrying the Sultan. Once he was at the front of the room, the Sultan, a short little fat man, much to Sora's amusement, rushed over to Aladdin to stand with him.

Kairi let out a small gasp as Genie conjured our doves, who draped a cream and gold carpet onto the floor, and everyone focused their attention on the door. She wanted to turn around to see Aladdin's reaction to Jasmine walking down the isle, but all she could do was stare at the young woman that she met years before. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she could probably control it normally, but her hormones weren't exactly friendly with her, and she ended up letting out a small sob. She didn't even know Aladdin, and she'd only met Jasmine once, so there was really no reason for her to cry, and she suddenly dreaded Roxas and Naminé's wedding.

Sora put his hands on her shoulders as he watched Jasmine walk up to Aladdin, trying to keep her calm, knowing that it wasn't really her fault that her emotions were all over the place at the worst times.

In all honesty, Sora didn't really enjoy weddings. He was the type of person that always had to be doing something, and while he was sure that if it was his own wedding he'd be a bit more interested, he could barely pay attention, more interested in the people around him and the building itself. It was because he was paying attention to the man with the odd hat a few seats away from him that he noticed the subtle shaking of the drink that the man was holding.

Sora looked around, his brow furrowing with confusion, there were a few other things shaking just a little bit. He didn't even notice that he was holding Kairi's shoulders a little too tightly until she looked back at him with a questioning glance.

He didn't acknowledge her though, instead tensing up. The shaking got violent enough for other people to notice too, and Sora grabbed Kairi's arm and pulled her to him protectively just as one of the walls exploded inward from the force of a massive elephant running into it.

It was complete chaos. There were people screaming and running to avoid being trampled, but as one of the elephants drew closer, Sora realized that something was wrong.

"Those aren't elephants," he said, squinting a bit as he summoned the Saviour Keyblade.

"Are they some type of Heartless?" Kairi asked as she summoned Oathkeeper.

"I've never seen it before, but it's definitely not a Nobody."

"So Endless," Midori said warily. "Big Endless."

"Kairi, go protect Jasmine. Keep using your reflect and barrier spells," Sora said to her, pushing her towards the other Princess of Heart. For once, Kairi didn't glare or argue. Instead, she moved to Jasmine's side quickly enough to block the pieces of rubble that were falling from the ceiling.

Midori and Emiliana summoned Twilight and Way to Dusk, and the three of them rushed towards the elephant Endless.

They trumpeted loudly and charged, but instead of letting it hit him, Sora jumped and landed on the big creature's back. It tried to swipe at him with it's trunk, but he parred it away with Saviour while he summoned Sacrifice. He flipped the two Keyblades around in his hands, and at the same time jammed both of them into the monster's back.

It reared back in a desperate attempt to get at him, no doubt realizing that maybe an elephant wasn't the best form to take. Sora tumbled off of it, but it was too late for the creature already, the combination of light and darkness from the two Keyblades destroying it.

Midori rushed at the creature that was rushing directly at her. Instead of jumping like Sora, however, she slid under it, thrusting her Keyblade upwards as she did, so that it sliced at the creature's stomach. She managed to get out from underneath it just in time before it crashed to the ground, which definitely would have taken her out of the game for a while.

Emiliana seemed rather calm, even though two of the elephant Endless were on either side of her. They rushed at her, but just before they were about to squish her violently in between their tusks, she jumped up, letting them crash into one another instead. She landed on the head of one of them, slamming her Keyblade into it's neck before she flipped back onto the second one and did the same.

Though Aladdin wasn't as proficient with his Keyblade as the others were, he proved to be just as tough. He used the Wishing Lamp Keyblade to stab and slice at the enemies rapidly. He managed to injure one enough to knock it to the ground before he stabbed his Keyblade into the Endless. It didn't have quite the same impact as the other's though, so Midori finished it for him.

"You have a Keyblade made of mostly light," she explained quickly, parring a magical attack away. "The only thing that kills these is a blend of darkness and light."

"Well then, I'll knock 'em down and you three hit 'em out of the park!" Genie said loudly, suddenly becoming much bigger than normal, before turning himself into a giant baseball bat. He then proceeded to literally knock the remaining, violent, elephant Endless to the ground.

Sora didn't even question it, instead going ahead to use his duel Keyblades. Emiliana and Midori both stopped for a moment before shrugging it off and following him.

"There, that wasn't so hard," Midori said, trying to be optimistic. The sounds of more frightened screaming instantly took away that sentiment though. They all looked at one another and followed the sounds of the screams, Kairi and Jasmine following close behind, though no one really noticed.

"Who are they?" Sora asked cautiously, looking at the men running in the room, stealing anything that they could get their hands on, even if it meant taking jewelery off of an actual person.

"The 40 Thieves!" Someone cried out, as if answering his question.

"Really?" Genie said from above. "I count 39."

"Who cares?" Midori asked. She didn't know who these guys actually were, but she wanted to know how they got the Endless to listen to them. Their appearance and the elephants rampaging was no coincidence. She didn't hesitate to throw herself into the fray, followed by Sora and a rather reluctant Emiliana.

Kairi barely had any time to react, as one of the men managed to get close enough to grab her arm, trying to pry the engagement ring Sora gave to her off of her finger. Kairi instantly felt rage pass through her, more than she probably should have, and it was obvious that the man wasn't expecting a small, pregnant woman to retaliate violently. She summoned Oathkeeper once again (having banished it while running into the other room), and slammed the blunt side into his head, effectively knocking him out.

"Sleep," she said, pointing her Keyblade at him. The spell wasn't necessary, but she wasn't letting this guy get anywhere.

Kairi turned to check if Jasmine was okay, and let out a gasp when she saw one of the men bearing down on the older Princess. She was about to move forward, but Jasmine instantly proved to be more of a fighter than most other Princesses of Heart.

She practically snarled at the man, slamming her small fist into his face with an oddly powerful punch. Jasmine's dark brown eyes glared at him and she snapped, "That, was for ruining my wedding day." She didn't knock him out, but he wisely decided to run away from them. "Do you have a spell to beat all of them at once? In a humiliating way?"

Kairi wondered if Jasmine was as much of a bridezilla as Naminé was turning out to be, but decided not to ask it. "No, sorry." She did a double take when she saw a large group of several copies of Genie wearing ninja clothing run by. Then she felt Jasmine grab her arm and drag her quickly away from the doorframe that was behind them. The two ended up falling harmlessly to the floor as the roof in the room that the actual wedding to place in fell down.

"Are you okay?" Jasmine asked her, concern lacing through her voice.

"I'm fine," Kairi said with a nod, hoisting herself off of the ground. The room seemed eerily quiet now, and she almost didn't want to say or do anything to change that.

Sora practically appeared in front of her, blue eyes blazing with worry as he asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she repeated. "Jasmine asked me the same thing. What happened?"

"They all got away," he said bitterly. "We didn't find out anything from them."

"We didn't even get someone to interrogate," Midori said with a frown as she came over, brushing off the dust on her green and purple shirt. Kairi hadn't even noticed, but sometime in all the action, their clothes changed back into their normal ones.

Realization passed through the redhead, and she snapped her fingers. "I did! He's laying over there!" She pointed towards the rubble, and was relieved to see that it just missed the unconscious man. "He tried to take my ring, so I knocked him out then used the sleep spell."

"Good job, Kairi," Midori said with a grin. "At least we have something, right?"

During the entire conversation, Jasmine was looking around curiously. Now she looked more worried than anything else, turning and asking, "Where's Aladdin?"

"I'm here." The young man walked over to them, a golden scepter with a smooth, round emerald in his hand. "You got one of them?"

"Yeah," Sora answered with a nod. "What's that?"

"Thieve number forty was trying to steal it," he explained. "To be honest, I think that this was what they were aiming for in the first place, everything else was just a distraction. Any other loot was just a bonus."

"What is it?" Jasmine wondered.

"Not sure, but it must be important. He passed by a lot of other wedding gifts that seem more valuable to get this one."

"Maybe he knows why," Kairi suggested, pointing at the unconscious man.

"Good idea," Genie said, popping out of nowhere. He snapped his fingers, and the man jerked awake, looking around with wild confusion. The next thing anyone knew, he was strapped onto a chair with a bright light shining on him, the rest of them all blacked out. "Alright scumbag," Genie said with a strange accent. "Tell us what we want to know before I take the law in my own hands."

"I have nothing to say to any of you," the man spat back.

Genie was about to yell, but Emiliana suddenly held up her hand with a rather cruel smirk on her face. She walked forward so that he could see her and bent so that she was facing him, "Are you sure? You won't tell any of us?"

The filthy, middle-aged man looked at her while suddenly stuttering intelligably, though he wasn't looking at her face, but rather down her red and grey tube top.

Sora couldn't help but chuckle a bit. Kairi and Midori would never do something like that, but Emiliana had no shame.

The younger girl bantered with the clearly distracted man, flipping her hair, batting her eyes, and all out manipulating him. Even Midori had to grin a bit, sure that the man would give in eventually.

"Come on, you can tell me what you wanted that for," she said, motioning to the scepter.

"Someone hired us to get it," he finally said.

"Someone hired you to get it?" she repeated, looking back at the others with a raised eyebrow.

Aladdin came forward and asked, "Why?"

He seemed a bit put off that Aladdin's bulkier frame was blocking Emiliana, but he spoke anyway, "He said that his master would pay more riches than it was worth. More than we could get here. He gave us a sample of it. He also said that we could have the staff after his master was done with it. It has special powers apparently. He only really told our leader about it."

"What did he look like?" Sora asked, an alarm gong off in his mind. This sounded almost like something Maleficent would have done in the past, but she was dead now. Though, knowing her, there was a possibility that she could have come back.

"He was a tall, but that's all I know. He had armour on. I told you all I know, let me go," the thief insisted.

"Kind of massive in every way?" Emiliana asked, sounding almost bored. "The colours of his armour were more bronze and copper?"

"Yes. That's it. Can I go?"

She looked over at Sora and said, "He's the one that attacked me and Roxas."

Iago, whom none of them had even noticed until now, asked, "So what is this and why would they want it?" He landed on the scepter as he spoke, and it started to glow brightly. He let out a loud squawk and flew off of it.

They all took a step back and Genie turned the room back to normal, losing the interrogation room theme. They watched as a huge, white, glowing, see through woman appeared in front of them. A voice saying, "Your question is mine to answer."

"The King of Thieves and the one known as Master Xehanort wished to use my sight to find something. Xehanort's is much more troubling, but the King of Thieves was promised in return to keep my scepter to use to find the ultimate treasure.

"Did someone say treasure?" Iago asked eagerly, flying up to the glowing spirit.

"Genie?" Aladdin asked, looking up at his big blue friend, who was wearing a pair of sunglasses.

"Looks like an Oracle."

"I see all that has been, and all that will be."

"Uh oh, uh oh," Genie said, shifting shapes. "Definitely an Oracle. Tells the future. Uh oh."

"Okay, you know all, so tell all, where is the treasure?" Iago asked.

"I am bound by the rule of one," the Oracle said. "One question, one answer."

"I only want one answer!" Iago yelled angrily. "Where is the ultimate treasure?"

"You have already answered your question."

Iago was about to argue, but Sora grabbed his tail feathers and pulled him back, staring up at the Oracle with a frown on his face. They could ask it nearly anything, but there were so many things that he wanted to know. Xehanort's plot, who they could trust, what was going to happen, anything. There was one burning in his mind though, and he couldn't stop himself from asking, "My brother, Ventus, died when I was little, and the memories of him were erased. King Mickey is supposed to be the holder of the memories, but he hasn't done anything and they're coming back to everyone. Why?"

"The memories of your brother return as he starts to return," she answered, and Sora had to reel back a bit. He used his one question, but now he had about a hundred more, the main one being confirmation about what he just heard.

Kairi seemed to understand, and asked, "Ventus is coming back to life?"

"Bit by bit, he will return to the land of the living."

Sora looked down, not really sure how to take that. His brother was going to come back to life? It wouldn't be the first time something similar happened, Roxas originally died, his heart and soul going into Sora's until he got a new body of his own. Still, this was the brother that he didn't remember, the brother who apparently gave everything for him.

Kairi put her hand on Sora's back, pressing her head against his shoulder as she rubbed his back soothingly.

"What does Xehanort want you for?" Midori asked the Oracle.

"The one known as Xehanort wishes to know where a specific heart is. He has twisted plans, but one piece missing is the heart that belongs to Ventus Hikari," the Oracle said.

Emiliana looked up at the Oracle, looking like she was about to the next obvious question, where Ventus' heart was, but Sora quickly looked at her and said, "No."

"Wha—"

"No," he repeated firmly. Sora knew that if Xehanort wanted that information there was a chance that he might have people listening, just in case they discussed it.

"I see the questions in your heart," the Oracle said, turning to face Aladdin. "Not about your future, but about your past. There will be time to answer these questions, the scepter will be safe under certain locks. You have another duty to perform for now." They all had to hide their eyes from the bright light as the Oracle disappeared.

"What did she mean?" Aladdin asked, looking at Sora for an answer.

"Well," Sora said awkwardly, trying to push any thoughts about Ventus away, "that's why we came here in the first place. This Xehanort the Oracle mentioned, he's really dangerous, he's a Keyblade Master actually."

"There's a bad guy running around with a Keyblade?" Aladdin asked, clearly disturbed by this.

Sora nodded his head. "Yeah. We're not sure what he's really up to, but we do know that it's not good. That's why we're gathering all the Keyblade Bearers across the world for basically a training camp. That way everyone can protect their own worlds, instead of waiting for us to show up to help. We came here to get you."

Aladdin processed this information, though Jasmine seemed to do it a bit faster than him, since she turned to him and said, "Well, you'll go then."

"I will?"

She nodded her head. "If it's to keep the world safe, I don't mind putting off the wedding for a while." She smiled a bit. "Besides, even with Genie working on this place, it'll take forever to fix it."

"Hey, I could do this in a minute," Genie argued.

"But you won't," she said with a small sigh and a smile.

Aladdin hesitated before asking, "What do we do with the scepter?"

"Put it in a special room and use your Keyblade to lock it," Kairi suggested. "That way only you can get at it. Nothing could undo that."

"And if Xehanort or the thieves—"

"I can handle it," Genie said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I'm not a Keyblade Bearer though, Al, but I do know about them. You can't just learn everything on your own. Unless you're Sora." The last part was added in as an afterthought. "If you want to do your duty right to protect this place, you'll go."

"Genie," Aladdin said, trailing off. He looked around at Jasmine and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Don't make me say it again," Jasmine said sternly. "Go."

Aladdin turned back to Sora and nodded his head. "I'll go with you. They're right." He summoned Wishing Lamp. "If I can learn to protect this place better, I should. What kind of future leader would I be if I didn't?"

"It's a question most of us seem to wonder," Sora agreed, sounding slightly bitter about it, though no one noticed.

**VVVVV**

Aladdin and Jasmine changed out of their more formal clothes before they all walked towards the warp point for the gummi ship (since none of them wanted Genie to transport them and make Kairi throw up again). Aladdin, Sora and Genie were all talking quietly while Emiliana and Midori were beside the warp point, both looking rather impatient.

Jasmine came up to Kairi, and the redhead smiled at her fellow Princess of Heart. "I'm sorry your wedding was ruined, Jasmine."

"As long as he comes back okay, it'll be fine," she said with a grin. "I didn't want to say anything earlier, but when did you and Sora get married?"

"Huh? Oh, we're not," Kairi answered quickly.

Jasmine looked both confused and concerned. "Oh. It's just, I thought you were...I thought you were pregnant."

"I am," she admitted, and noted how Jasmine looked slightly shocked. Kairi quickly realized that such a thing as being pregnant and not being married was frowned upon by those in power in this world. "We're going to get married, just not yet. It's not...well as big of a deal on Destiny Islands." Though it was a bigger deal when counting royal families, but she decided not to mention it. "Hey, Jasmine, how old are you?"

"Me? I'm 21, why?" the Arabian Princess said, now looking curious.

"Well, it's just that everywhere seems to make Princesses and Princes get married before they're 18," she explained. "Or something along those lines."

"My father changed the laws," Jasmine explained with a smile. "At the same time he decided that a Princess could marry whomever she chose. Why?"

Kairi shook her head. "It's too long of a story to explain here." She sighed and put her hand on her stomach. "I kind of just want to leave. It's so warm here."

Jasmine nodded her head and smiled, "It is. I'm sorry for my shock earlier, this just doesn't usually happen here. I'm sure you'll be a good mother, and that Sora will be a good father."

Kairi frowned at that and looked down. "I'm not so sure."

The other princess seemed much more confused than before. "Why? Sora's such a sweet and kind boy. It's easy to see that he loves you."

"I know he does," Kairi agreed. "With this though, he cares about me, but he doesn't really care about her. I don't know if it's a girl, I just like calling it a her. He doesn't say anything, but I just have a feeling that he wouldn't be too upset if something happened to her." Kairi realized just how horrible that made Sora sound, because he wasn't a monster by any means. He just wanted too enthusiastic about it. Before she could correct herself though, Sora called out that they were leaving.

"Good luck, and don't die," Jasmine said to Aladdin, giving him a kiss. When she backed away, she looked at him sternly. "If you die, I will kill you."

"I'll be fine," he assured her. "Take care of them, Genie."

"Ten-four good buddy," Genie said with a salute.

Aladdin looked back at everyone else one last time as he approached the warp point, and with an encouraging smile from even Abu, he turned and walked into the light and onto a new adventure.

**VVVVV**

**Author's Note**

See, not another 10 months or so.

If anyone's interested in seeing Emiliana's Keyblade, there's a link to it on my profile. As well, I know I have a picture of Midori and Crysita with more of a Final Fantasy look to it, but I decided to make one that was a little more Kingdom Hearts style. It's actually a picture of her and Emiliana. I do have another one of Emiliana (wearing the clothes that were originally described on her, but hey, people change clothes), in a more Final Fantasy format, but that won won't be posted until after this fic is finished for several reasons.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, despite how long the wait was between chapters. That includes xNINJABLADE45x, Nytox, The 666th necrophiliac, Q-A the Authoress, EvilxLittlexNinja, dimidium draco, and the anonymous guest who reviewed!

I'm thinking of trying to do a beta-type thing, but not like how most people do it. I'm thinking of trying to find a person to basically help me 'polish' what I've already written. Like going through Shadows of Sleep and Shadows of a Dream to pick out the typos and grammar mistakes, not another rewrite. Think it's a good idea?

Again, thank you for the reviews! This chapter isn't my favourite one by far, but it's a thousand times better than the original version of it.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	25. Future Masters

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Twenty-Four – Future Masters _

Fire was an interesting thing. It was seen as the first invention that led to every other achievement that the worlds, a sign of hope, comfort, and warmth, a sign of good things to come. At the same time though, it was a destructive force that could destroy, burn, and cause despair. The cooler the colour, the hotter it burned.

Lea stared at the small flame that danced on the palm of his hand, his bright green eyes never once moving to anything else. Even before he was granted the ability to use fire as his main weapon, his strongest power, he was fascinated with it. Isa called him a pyromaniac from time to time when they were younger, since he almost always had a lighter with him, flicking the little flame on and off again and again. He never took it as an insult though, because he did love fire. He just knew how to use it so that no one got hurt. Unless he wanted them to, that is.

The sound of footsteps caught his attention, and he extinguished the flame, looking around to see where it was coming from. He was outside on one of the balconies so that he wouldn't catch anything on fire or set off the smoke detectors, so it took him a minute to realize that the sound was coming from below him. He looked down and saw King Mickey walking out into the center of the courtyard below, stopping to just stare out at the edge of the world that was slowly becoming filling in with blurry images, them Lea had no idea why.

Mickey summoned his Keyblade and looked at it before staring up at the sky. Lea could barely see the profile of his face, but he could tell that it was grim. For such a creature, who he learned was fairly happy, Mickey seemed very serious and sullen most of the time recently.

Lea watched as Mickey closed his eyes and took a deep breath, but the mouse still didn't do anything. He was going to question it, but decided not to. Lea understood the value of privacy, so whatever Mickey was thinking about was his business.

Donald and Goofy took Sora's order of keeping an eye on him and Ienzo seriously. They were almost never left alone. It wasn't like they did a whole lot anyway. There were some training rooms where Lea would use the fire and sais that he was still able to summon, but Ienzo spent most of his time combing through a huge library and researching. He snuck one of the books that the slightly younger man was writing in once, but it was all boring stuff about the history of the worlds, nothing particularly of interest.

That didn't stop the dynamic duo of Donald and Goofy from always keeping on eye on them, the duck being incredibly suspicious, while Goofy seemed fairly optimistic about their presence after observing them. Still, Lea valued his moments of quiet and isolation, to just sit with his flames and have some peace. Though he was eager for his friends to return; there was so much to catch up on still. He really missed hanging out with Roxas and—

His thoughts cut off quickly. She didn't matter anymore, because that part of her, the dark part, was gone, and there was no bringing it back. Not that he wanted to, who knows what kind of trouble could come up then, but she was still his friend back then too.

It wasn't like they could do anything even if they wanted to anyway, not with King Mickey and Master Yen Sid there. The powerful sorcerer, formerly a Keyblade Master, Lea was surprised to learn, always seemed to know what was going on. That's why Lea had a feeling that something was going on. Both of them seemed very pensive, smiling at times and concerned at others.

He shook off the thoughts as he decided to go inside. Lea hated being useless, but they were under house arrest until at least Sora (though, it seemed more like it was Kairi calling this shot) gave the okay for him and Ienzo to have more freedom. While the younger man studied, Lea took to working in the communications room. There wasn't really much to do in there, since the only thing that ever came up was Minnie wanting to get a hold of Mickey for something, or vice versa. It amused Lea to no end when Daisy called to yell at Donald for what seemed like hours on end. Still, he could monitor different airways, and it was definitely better than doing nothing.

At least the computers in the room had awesome games on them. Benefits of the creator of the castle being a young man.

Lea was so distracted by the game that he was playing (marathoning), that he almost didn't notice when a call did come through. He tried to figure out what the annoying sound distracting him was, but when he realized it was the massive screen used for audio and visual communications, he pushed his comfortable wheely chair across the room, and hit a few buttons to answer the call.

He raised an eyebrow at the stern-looking, middle aged man before him. The man seemed highly unimpressed with Lea's apparent tardiness at answering his call, and turned up his face a bit as he said, "I demand to speak to the King this instant."

Lea wasn't sure if he meant King Mickey, or Sora, but he didn't like this guy's tone as it was. "That depends on which king you're talking about. One is away on business, and the other isn't the king of this world."

"How rude of a simpleton. I will speak to the king who is present. I am sure that you wouldn't be able to understand the circumstances."

Lea clenched his teeth together, his hands forming tight fists with light flames on them. He managed to calm himself down enough to say, "I will go get him then. I'll just put you on hold." Before the man could say anything else, Lea hit a few buttons and went to find the most atrocious waiting music he could, settling on some horrible Beiber stuff that he assumed came from a beaver with a throat infection. Either way, it made him want to cut his ears off, so it was good enough.

With a bit more of a happy walk, Lea went to go find King Mickey. He didn't want to deal with that pompous ass of a man anyway.

**VVVVV**

Roxas was used to pain, he could handle quite a bit of it, but he was glad that the frost burn on his skin wasn't actually sore anymore, thanks to an abundance of Naminé's magic that left her feeling a little tired. She was back sleeping in the room that they continued to share, much to his glee. Riku was an okay roommate, he actually didn't talk all too much, and he was very silent, slipping in and out of the room, but he just like having Naminé close by. Hell, they were going to be married sooner rather than later.

He rubbed the slightly red marks that still marred his face, they would fade eventually, but he didn't mind, as long as the pain was gone. His mind wasn't really focused on that though, at least not now. He'd come to terms with the fact that he was going to have to marry Naminé way earlier than he ever anticipated that he would, but that didn't stop him from feeling nervous. He didn't regret agreeing to marry Naminé, he loved her, but at the same time, Roxas couldn't help but feel like something was off with the idea. Like there was someone else he wished could be there for that day. Maybe it was the longer for their mother, or even the long-deceased Ventus to be there, he didn't quite know, he just knew that the feeling wasn't going away.

He stretched out on his bed, rolling over to look across the room at Naminé, who was still silently sleeping. A smile crossed his features, and he wanted to get up and lay down beside her, but he didn't want to wake her up. He knew that she needed her rest, and even if she didn't, he wouldn't have had the heart to wake her when she looked so peaceful, so relaxed. It was something that none of them really experienced anymore.

The sound of someone's footsteps violently hitting the floor broke Roxas out of his thoughts, and he got up out of his bed, trying to make his way as quietly as he could do the door. Roxas opened it, peering out, only to see Midori's back to him. She was standing outside of Sora and Kairi's room, the door wide open, and he could hear some muttering inside.

There was a sudden, loud smack, followed by a distinctly male yelp. That caught Roxas' attention, and he came out of his room, his brows furrowed with confusion and curiosity. Midori glanced around at him and silently shrugged, not really sure what was going on herself.

"They're awake," Riku muttered as he came out of the room, holding his pink cheek. His green eyes narrowed at Roxas and he said, "Not one word."

"Did you really try to wake Kairi up?" Roxas asked, amusement lacing through his voice. "She tends to lash out first, ask questions later these days."

"I noticed," Riku replied dryly. "You might want to wake Naminé up too."

"Why?" the blond inquired, glancing from Riku to Midori and back. "It's really early."

"Which is why I'm confused about why you're awake," Midori said, nudging him gently. Her smile faded, and she said, "Lea just got in contact with us. Something's happening in Twilight's Destiny."

"Like what?" he asked, suddenly alarmed.

"Like the rest of it is being pieced together again," Midori informed him neutrally. She wasn't sure whether to consider this grim news or not. As far as she knew, Twilight's Destiny coming back together again didn't change her life any, but she also knew that it could very possibly mess up Sora's.

"It's all...coming back?" Roxas asked, his eyes glazing over as he seemed to gaze at an object far away, his voice airy and distracted.

"Is that a bad thing?" the raven-haired girl asked.

"I don't know," he admitted. "On one hand, you must have noticed that people are remembering Ven again. He's not...forgotten anymore. On the other hand though, this could be bad. Expectations, councils, and things like that. Both Destiny Islands and Twilight Town had city councils, so they'll probably be vying for control, and then there's Sora...it's going to be a mess. Did you tell him?"

"Yeah," Riku nodded his head. "Sora was awake when I went in, and we were talking until we startled Kairi and she slapped me. He seems a bit...fidgety about this whole thing."

"I think it has more to do with having a knocked up girlfriend, considering her mother is going to be there," Midori pointed out as she started to make her way back to the bridge, but quickly came to a stop. "Oh, and Roxy, as cute as the penguin boxers are, you might want to get some clothes on. Emiliana may take it as an invitation."

The blond boy blinked at her for a moment before saying, "There could be worse things."

Midori raised an eyebrow. "Does your fiance know about this?"

"That's not what I mean!" Roxas cried out, glaring at her. "I meant that her thinking it was an invitation was better than...say...falling out of the ship in my undies."

She rolled her eyes at him and said, "Between you and Sora, you think of excuses for everything."

He just shrugged and moved back into his room. He knelt beside Naminé's bed, carefully running his hand up and down her bare arm, and said, "Nam? It's time to get up."

She let out a small groan, her indigo eyes fluttering open, focusing on him with an indigent look. "What time is it?"

"Er..."

Naminé sighed and pushed herself up, looking over his shoulder at the clock. A blond eyebrow rose as she glared at him. "It's too early. I'm exhausted."

"I know," he nodded. "The pieces of Twilight's Destiny are coming back together. No one knows why, but I assume that we're going back. I don't really know though. I assume everyone is going to meet in the bridge to talk about it."

She yawned and nodded her head. "Okay. Get out so I can get changed."

"What? But I need clothes too."

Naminé just stared at him blankly, before he let out a sigh, pulling his clothes out of his dresser, and walked out of the room, going down to Riku and Midori's room to get dressed. He had a feeling that it was going to be a very long day.

**VVVVV**

Mickey stood on one of the tall balconies, his dark eyes staring out at what was, only that morning, an empty area just beyond the entrance of the castle was starting to be filled in. Almost out of nowhere, roads, sand, trees and grass started to appear, followed by the vast ocean and islands that Mickey knew made up Destiny Islands. Soon, the buildings, houses, and faint images of people began to appear. Everything still looked slightly transcluscent, but it was rapidly coming back. Mickey had no doubt that there was going to be a lot of confusion once the worlds came back together to form one.

In a way, he hoped that some people's memories of Twilight's Destiny came back to them. It would make explaining things a lot easier. He also hoped that Sora got back before the worlds came together completely. He would never force Sora to deal with all of this on his own, that would be highly irresponsible of him, but he needed to be there for his people, because in the end, that's what they were.

He heard some shifting behind him, and saw Lea approaching him. "Did you get a hold of them?"

"Yeah," Lea nodded his head, fiery locks falling into his face. "I think I woke everyone up, they all seem to be on a different world's time, but when Sora got back to me, he said that they'd make their way over here as soon as they could. They're actually pretty close, they were passing by here anyway, so they should be here by later tonight at the earliest."

Mickey sighed and said, "They probably broke the gummi ship. It seems to be a repetitive thing." He shook his head. "Welp, just stay by the communication system for now. You never know what unpleasant surprise is going to come our way again."

Lea snorted and said, "And you don't want me to inform them about Radiant Garden's...request?"

"No, I'll talk to them when they get here," the King told him, feeling a headache coming on. The universe just seemed to expect so much from all of them, and he wasn't sure how well that anyone, especially Sora, was going to be able to deal with it.

**VVVVV**

"How is it almost the end of October?" Kairi asked as she poked at her food, sitting at one of the chairs in the galley.

Sora blinked up at her, holding his bowl of cereal close to him like he was worried that someone was going to come and force it out of his arms, not saying a word, but just staring. It was obvious that he wasn't really awake yet. None of the adrenaline that came with being woken up from an attack was coursing through him, and though he was really curious about what was going on back at home, it wasn't enough to wake him up entirely. Instead, he just tilted his head slightly, regarding his girlfriend and her slightly extended stomach almost curiously.

"It's a rhetorical question," she said with a sigh. "I just mean, the time went by so fast. We haven't even been to that many worlds to get Keyblade Bearers yet."

"That's because we stop," Riku spoke up from where he was sitting, nursing a black cup of coffee. "Fighting Heartless, Nobodies and Endless in other worlds, and training." He saw her about to protest, and held up a hand. "I know what you mean though. You're four, almost five months pregnant while Naminé and Roxas need to get married pretty much as soon as possible."

"Better him than me," Sora mumbled, earning a glare from his girlfriend. "I didn't mean it like that. I'm just glad that Radiant Garden can't dictate what we do anymore."

Kairi thought about this before shrugging and saying, "Fair enough. I'm actually a bit excited to get back home, to be honest. I don't like being stuck on the gummi ship for so long."

The two boys exchanged worried looks, and Riku said, "Don't take this the wrong way, but maybe you should stay back in Twilight's Destiny when we get there."

Alarm passed over her features, and she sat up a bit. "What? Why?"

Riku was about to answer, but Sora just shook his head and said,"It's because you are four months pregnant. You're not going to run into fights anymore, and there's more danger up here. Twilight's Destiny is protected as long as both Kingdom Hearts and I are still around."

Kairi was still frowning, but she didn't protest, instead focusing on her food again. She mind wandered a bit, and she asked, "What would happen if something happened to Kingdom Hearts? Like it was broken or destroyed?"

"I don't think that's even possible," Riku said slowly.

"I don't know," Sora admitted, "Kingdom Hearts isn't...well, something created it, so it can be broken. If it was destroyed...who knows. I bet it wouldn't be good for me though." He shrugged a bit. "No point worrying about that though. It won't happen."

She pushed herself up to put her dishes away, taking Riku's empty cup from him, despite his protests. He didn't need anymore coffee. She wasn't about to try and take Sora's bowl though, since he was cradling it like the bowl was his child, not the baby growing in her. He would either get cranky or pouty if she tried. "Why do you think the worlds are coming back together now?"

"I think they've been drifting back together for a while," Sora admitted. "It's just a feeling. They've been shielded from each other though. I have a feeling that this isn't going to turn out all that good. If no one remembers, then no one will know what to do."

"I think that a few people have always remembered, in a way," Riku said thoughtfully. "It's only in retrospect, you know, but people really went out of their way to look out for you. More than normal. There was never any disrespect towards your mother either, at least from some people. I think...I think some people probably knew all along. Who would believe them though?"

"Not me, that's for sure," Sora admitted, finishing off the last of his cereal. "We'll probably get home before nightfall. Though I think we're a bit behind on time again. If it's too late, we can leave the ship in orbit and sleep." He frowned a bit. "Has Max had any sleep?" Goofy's son always liked being the one piloting the ship, wanting to be useful to them. In a way, Sora figured that was so he could come back out with them, even after they stopped at home. There was really no need for it though, because Sora enjoyed Max's company. It was like having a younger Goofy who was interested in video games.

"Yeah, Midori sent him off about an hour ago," Riku said with a nod of his head. "She's flying now. Roxas is already up, and I think Naminé might be too. Everyone else is still asleep down below."

"Who can blame them after the workout you guys put them through on the last world?" Kairi asked, though it was obvious that she didn't really want an answer for that question either. She stretched her tired limbs, and asked, "So, what are we going to do to pass the time?"

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm going to watch one of the DVDs in the lounge," Riku said. "I know I should be training, but I think we all deserve some down time before the shitstorm that's going to be waiting for us in Twilight's Destiny." At Kairi's annoyed look, he just shrugged. "What? No point in sugar-coating it."

Sora let out a groan, slumping forward and letting his forehead bash on the table. Kairi shook her head, swatting at Riku as he quickly vacated the room. She moved over to her boyfriend and put her hands on his shoulders. "Wanna just go back to sleep?"

His head shot up, his cerulean eyes wide as he said, "You are truly a goddness."

"I'll remember that when you get cranky again," she replied with a small smile on her face as he stood up. She was a bit startled when he suddenly pulled her to him, burying his face in her crimson hair. "Sora?"

He shook his head, moving back from her slightly with a small smile on his face. "I'm okay. I'm...I don't know...I just feel better than I have lately." He ran his hand through her hair, his grin getting bigger. "It kind of just hit me, and I have no idea why. Did you put happy pills in my cereal?"

Kairi laughed a bit, taking his hand and leading him out of the room. "No, Sora, I didn't. I'll keep that one away fore the future though."

It didn't take long to get to their room, it was only a small gummi ship, and Sora flopped back on the bed, exhaustion visible on his features. He looked up at Kairi with a soft smile and held out his arms to her. As she moved onto the bed, curling up in his arms, she felt almost like they were back in a time when life wasn't all that complicated.

As she felt a very light fluttering in her abdomen, she was reminded that nothing would be the same ever again.

**VVVVV**

Ice blue eyes slowly slipped open, focusing on a pure white wall with confusion. Her entire body felt stiff, like she couldn't move it no matter what she wanted to do. A small groan escaped her lips, and Master Aqua knew that she needed more time to heal herself. However long she'd been in the hidden chamber of Castle Oblivion, it was definitely far too long.

Aqua desperately wanted to get up to see what exactly was going on, to see how much of the world she missed in her obviously long slumber. She couldn't though. She still needed to heal her physical body, and it was much easier to do in a completely relaxed state.

She closed her eyes for a moment, and there was a sudden flash of colour where there was usually only darkness. Aqua frowned a bit, focusing on the colour for a moment. A scene was playing out before her, and a small smile appeared on her face.

A small, honest laugh escaped her lips, a smile staying permanently after that. She reached deep within her own heart, and whispered, "It's time, Mickey. Your days as the keeper of Ventus' secret is over. They need to know."

A Keyblade appeared on her hand, not her own Stormfall one, but the Master Keeper that once belonged to Eraqus, bright light shining from the tip. The light seemed to fill the entire room, and when it finally did dim, Aqua was once again slumped down on the pure white chair, her chest rising and falling with every breath as she slept.

**VVVVV**

Somehow, despite his worries, Mickey managed to fall asleep the night before, having got word that the gummi ship did arrive, but because it was the middle of the night and most people were asleep, they were staying in orbit. That was fine with him though, because Twilight's Destiny wasn't fully reformed, though it would be within the next few days, no doubt.

Hopefully, it would give them time to deal with Radiant Garden as well.

Mickey didn't need a lot of sleep, so when he was suddenly awoken from his slumber, he wasn't all that annoyed or exhausted. Maybe it was the reason that he was forced awake, but adrenaline and excitement rushed through him, as well as a bit of dread.

"_It's time, Mickey."_

The soft, feminine voice was first heard in his dreams, in his slumber, but even his unconscious mind knew that it wasn't just a random phrase for a dream. There was something important about those words. The voice, it sounded so familiar, like a distant memory, or a far-off dream. It was only the rest of the statement that allowed him to put all the pieces together.

"_Your days as the keeper of Ventus' secret is over. They need to know."_

Aqua. For the first time in over 15 years, he'd heard Master Aqua speaking to him. Mickey relished the thought, knowing that, somehow, his friend was still alive. She was out there somewhere, maybe not ready, or perhaps unable, to join them in their quest to stop Xehanort just yet, but she was still alive.

It was time for everyone to truly remember Ventus. Mickey knew that the memories were slowly seeping back to those closest to him, he felt it happening since he was the keeper of the memories, but now, they would all know.

He could still remember the original reason that Aqua came to her decision to remove all memories of Ventus' existence from the universe. A combination of the knowledge that a defenseless Sora would always be in danger, and the sheer heartbreak that she saw the then-young boy going through made up her mind for her. Those who would want to hurt him, those who knew of Sora's power and potential, only knew if it through Ventus, so if there was no Ventus, there were no memories.

Now though, Sora wasn't a little boy anymore. He was actually going to have his own child in a few months time, and that thought was enough to make Mickey feel old. He didn't age like humans did, so he was still considered very young, but it still did make him feel old. He knew that Sora could take care of himself, and even if he couldn't, there were so many others who could rise to help him. There was no need to protect him anymore.

Mickey summoned his Keyblade, staring at the Reverse Kingdom Key, or Kingdom Key D as some people called it. It took him a long time to accept the knowledge that he deserved such a Keyblade. He never saw himself as anything particularly special, in comparison to other Keyblade Bearers, but over time, he accepted the weapon and the responsibility that came with it.

King Mickey put his free hand over his heart as he held the Keybalde High, closing his eyes as he did. There were no words, not special spell or incantation. This was all about the heart and the mind, and the way that they connected with memories.

The shattered chains began to reform, and the memories began to link back together, a lost Prince finally remembered.

**VVVVV**

Sora's eyes snapped open, and he jerked up quickly, breathing in and out heavily as memories rushed across his vision. He could remember everything now. Everything that happened os long ago. The cruel children at preschool, running away, Terra trying to take him, Ventus and Aqua stopping him, being taken by that monstrous boy named Vanitas, being tortured, protecting Ventus with his own Keyblade, waking up to Kairi, going home, and finally, forgetting. He could remember all of them: Terra, Aqua and Ventus. He could even remember younger Naminé, before her original body was destroyed and her spirit took up residence in Kairi's body, causing the other girl to look more like her cousin rather than he original self. He remembered it all.

Judging by the way Kairi woke up just as quickly, tears in her eyes as she suddenly hugged him, her memories came rushing back as well.

"I remember him, Sora, I remember everything," she said as she hugged him. Kairi took a deep breath and forced herself to sit up, shifting their positions so that he was the one leaning on her, his head resting on his chest as she hugged him. As much as the memories overwhelmed her, she knew that they'd have to be crushing him. He needed her right now, not the other way around.

Sora could remember everything, but oddly enough, despite how much hurt came from the resurgence of the memories of his older brother, he didn't feel like crying. He didn't feel sad either. In fact, he felt elated, almost giddy. He could remember him, everything about him. Things that a person would normally forget from the time that they were four were as clear as day to him. He looked up at Kairi, and a huge smile on his face, and laughed.

She was completely bewildered by his reaction, especially when he jerked up and kissed her quickly, blue eyes wide with a happiness that she hadn't seen in a very long time.

"I remember him," Sora said, the words coming out as a breath of awe. "I know I should be sad, because so many of the memories are sad, but...but I remember him. My brother. I remember him playing race cars with me, I remember him teaching me to swim. I remember."

At that moment, Kairi understood. He wasn't sad or upset, because he finally had answers. He knew who Ventus was before, but the memories were so frayed and broken that not even Naminé could fix them. Now though, he had the certainty back. He knew who Ventus was, and by association, who Aqua and Terra were as well. A weight was lifted off of him, and now he was free and vast like the sky he was named after. It made warmth swell inside of Kairi. She missed her happy, care-free Sora.

He looked over at the clock, and saw that it was early in the morning, but decided to get up anyway. He ran a hand through her messy hair, and said, "I'm going to get ready and then land the ship."

"Isn't Max in the bridge?" she asked him curiously.

"No, I made him go to sleep since we didn't need someone to fly us. I'm sure anyone who knew Ven before is awake now anyway, so I'm going to take us home. You can get some more sleep."

"I don't think I can," she admitted as she stretched out and moved her body around, letting her legs dangle off the side of the bed. She felt a now familiar fluttering in her abdomen, which felt a little stronger than when she first felt it a little while ago. A grin appeared on her face and she put her hand on her distended stomach. She was almost instantly surprised when a hand rested on her stomach beside hers, and her indigo eyes snapped up to look at Sora's cerulean ones. He was still smiling brightly, like absolutely nothing could get him down. He pressed his lips to her forehead and then quickly moved to pull on his clothes, rushing out of the room without even bothering to try and fix his hair.

Kairi shook her head and smiled. She looked down at her stomach and said, "Daddy will come around eventually, you'll see."

**VVVVV**

Riku silently entered the bridge, not the least bit surprised to see that Sora was wide awake and manning the controls, preparing to go down to Twilight's Destiny. He silently moved towards him friend, flopping down the seat beside him. Riku wasn't really sure what to say or do, the vivid images of his memories involving Sora's older brother, Aqua and Terra dancing around in his mind. He wasn't really good with dealing with emotional stuff, but if his friend needed to talk to him, he'd be there for him.

"Hey Riku," Sora said, once he realized that his friend was there. His tone of voice took Riku completely off guard, and he leaned forward a bit to see that Sora was actually smiling.

"Are you...okay?" he asked, slightly weirded out by the fact that Sora was reacting the opposite of what he expected.

Sora looked around and said, "I'm...relieved, I guess. There's just one less thing to be confused about. Plus, I can actually remember him now. There's nothing I can do to bring Ven back, but at least now, I can remember him."

Riku slowly nodded his head, glad that Sora didn't seem to be upset over the whole thing. A happy, cheerful Sora was something that he could deal with any day of the week.

The two young men watched with interest as the world fully came into view. It was the oddest thing that either of them had ever seen. The castle that they associated with Twilight's Destiny still stood tall and proud, but now the familiar, stone streets of Twilight Town and the sandy beaches of Destiny Islands were both there as well, though they appeared a bit faint. Sora felt his body tense up when he saw how vast the ocean was, and how there was a huge jungle beyond the town and the castle. He knew what was on the opposite side of those, if someone kept going. There was a landscape with crystals cut into it, and a chain of volcanos somewhere, but those weren't the cause of his nervousness. Instead, all he could think about was the vast desert with hundreds of Keyblades in it.

"So, ready to play King yet?" Riku asked his friend, staring at the nearly complete world before them. "It's going to be a lot different with all of these people here."

"Don't I know it," Sora said with a sigh. He gave Riku a troubled look and said, "I don't know what I'm going to do, Riku. I might have been born into this, but it's not how I grew up. I don't have the first clue how to run an entire world."

"I know," he nodded his head and clapped Sora on the shoulder. The friendly gestured caused the smaller boy to let out a small gasp and lurch forward a bit from the force. "Don't worry, we'll all help as much as we can."

"Thanks," Sora said, his expression once again turning happy.

They both turned as they heard rushing footsteps, and Naminé almost hurled herself into the room. Her indigo eyes were wide, her blonde hair as mess as she stumbled into one of the other seats, and both boys stared at her as if she was the single oddest thing that they'd ever seen. To be fair, it was rare to see prim and proper Naminé looking like she'd just stumbled out of bed.

"I remember you!"

"Umm...I'm glad?" Sora asked, cocking an eyebrow. He glanced at Riku, who just shrugged slightly.

"No," Naminé shook her head. "I mean, from when we were little. From before I died. I had my memories of my family, of Kairi, but there was always a period just before I died when there was this great gaping hole. It drove me insane." That was understandable. Memories were her speciality, and having her own tampered with probably never sat well with her. "But now I remember. I met you. And Ven."

"I remember that too," Sora said with a nod. "I also remember knowing who you and Kairi were before even meeting you. I could even remember Roxas, though he died when we were infants." He looked at Naminé quickly, having turned his attention out the window. "What about Roxas? Does he remember anything?"

Her brow furrowed a bit. "That's the odd thing, he doesn't. It may be because he was so deeply integrated with you at the time, that his spirit didn't take in what was happening. There's a lot of your childhood he doesn't remember."

Sora nodded his head. "He looks just like him. Roxas and Ventus. They're almost identical." Sora chuckled a bit. "They even wear similar things. Funny how that works, isn't it?"

"I remember something else too," Naminé said slowly. "I remember hearing stories about...Vanitas."

Sora knew that name. It was a darkness within him, the one that he accidentally touched when he was forced into his anti-form. No, not really within him. It was hidden somewhere inside of him, but Vanitas wasn't his darkness. Before, he thought that the name was only associated with a dark being who was a mild annoyance, but not anymore. He could remember Vanitas just as clearly as he could remember Ventus. The thought of him actually made Sora shudder slightly. He met Vanitas after that, within the depths of his own heart, and even to that day, he could still clearly remember Vanitas stating that he took over Sora to torture Jorix just because he was bored. If Sora had to choose between fighting Vanitas and fighting Xehanort alone, he'd take Xehanort any day of the week. "Me too." His tone of voice made it quite clear that he was done talking about that.

She muttered something under her breath, the only words that either could make out were 'hair' and 'brush' as she left.

Sora gently landed the gummi ship, and let out a breath that he'd been holding. He looked over at Riku and said, "We're home.

"We're home," Riku agreed, nodding his head.

**VVVVV**

"They're back!"

If anyone was sleeping in the castle, at Donald's loud cries, there was no way that they still were. It didn't matter to Mickey, who was already wide awake. The mouse quickly moved down the gummi hanger, slightly surprised to see that nearly everyone else was already there; not that there were many people in the castle as it was. Goofy seemed surprisingly anxious, but Mickey quickly remembered that Max was with them. The only one who wasn't there was Ienzo, though he didn't really have a reason to be there.

Sora was the first one out of the gummi ship, and as he glanced at Mickey, a big smile appeared on his face. He knew where the memories of Ventus had suddenly come from, and he was thankful for it. There wasn't any hurt or pain, no accusations like Mickey expected, just acceptance and happiness. Sora turned suddenly, holding his hand out to Kairi, who took it and smiled at him. Mickey couldn't help but eye her stomach with a bit of surprise. Though not too big, it was still really noticeable.

Everyone else came out in a group, all staring at the world in awe. Mickey recognized Mulan, Hercules, Peter Pan, and Aladdin. He thought he recognized the little blue creature as a refugee in Radiant Garden, and thought that his name might have been Stitch, but he wasn't sure. The last girl, with brown hair and purple eyes was completely unfamiliar to him though.

Goofy let out a happy yell as he quickly rushed towards the ship as Max came down the ramp. The younger anthropomorphic dog was clobbered in a hug by his father, first hugging back before trying to shrug him off.

"Roxas!" Lea cried out happily as he stepped towards the blond.

In turn, he smiled back and said, "Sup, Le-ah?"

"It's Lea. Le-ee. Got it memorized?" Lea said, poking Roxas' own head.

"Has he been causing trouble?" Naminé asked, a teasing tone to her voice as she looked over at Donald.

"Not too much, but uh, Sora, you might need new curtains in the kitchen. There was an...incident," the duck said, his eyes shifted to Lea, who cleared his throat and looked away.

"So," Sora said slowly. "Any chance we can get some breakfast before you tell us all what's going on?" He looked around curiously. "Is Master Yen Sid still here?"

"Yes, I'm not sure why he's not here," Mickey admitted. He then smiled slightly and said, "As for breakfast...this is kind of your castle. If you want breakfast, there'll be ingredients for breakfast. Though, once everything starts coming back for good, I'd suggest actually arranging to buy your food from the locals so you can help with the economy, but we can get to that another time."

"I think you broke him, Mickey," Riku said with a small laugh, seeing Sora's perplexed face. His friend just shrugged off the comment, not the least bit insulted.

"Well," Sora said, after a moment. "You know almost everyone here, I think. This is Mulan, Hercules, Peter Pan, Aladdin, Stitch and Emiliana. We still have a few more Keyblade Bearers to find, but we figured that we should come back while all this is happening." He motioned to the still slightly transparent scenery behind them. "Plus, I was thinking that maybe you and Yen Sid could start training them, if you don't have to go home."

"I think I'm going to stop by home for a little while, just to catch up on everything, though Minnie runs it all better than I ever could," Mickey admitted. "Master Yen Sid will be here though. From what I was told, he's getting more worried about Xehanort lately, though he won't say why, exactly. Again though, food first."

"Good, I'm absolutely starved," Kairi noted absentmindedly.

**VVVVV**

On one hand, Roxas was a little leery that Radiant Garden had sent word for Naminé for obvious reason, but on another, he was almost glad, because it gave him a reason to speak to Mickey, who was accompanying him and Naminé to the communications room where Lea would get them in contact with the other world. Roxas knew that he could talk to Mickey whenever he wanted, but he still felt a bit awkward asking about this. "Mickey?"

"Hmm?"

He hesitated before asking, "You were the keeper of Ven's memory, right?"

"Yeah, I was," Mickey confirmed with a nod, looking over at him curiously. "Why? Do you have some confusing memories."

"Oh, no actually," he admitted. "I don't have any new memories really, at least nothing clear an concrete." He could feel Naminé squeeze his hand comfortingly as they walked. "It makes sense, because when Ven was still around Sora was still very young and I was tucked away pretty far in his heart. I was more curious about why. Why now?"

"It's hard to explain," the mouse said after a moment of thought. "Master Aqua took away the memories to protect Sora and, though she didn't know it, you. She didn't have it in her to make the memories go away forever though, so she hid them within my heart instead." Mickey placed his gloved hand over his heart. "Protecting them was the most important task I had. You must have noticed lately that the memories seem to have been slipping out, right?" Roxas nodded his head. "There's only so much we can do to stray away from destiny's plans, and something out there wanted Ventus to be remembered again. So Aqua decided that it was time to bring Ventus out from the shadows."

"Wait, Aqua decided?" Naminé repeated as they stopped outside of the communications room. "She's here? How? When?"

"No, she's not here," Mickey replied serenely. "She told me through a dream. I'm still not sure where she is, but I know she's okay now. Or she will be okay." He shook his head, his face turning into a much more serious one as he led them into the room. "Get everything hooked up, Lea?"

"Almost," he replied, punching at a few buttons. He leaned back, stretching out casually as he spun around in the chair fluidly, the picture of calm and relaxed. "It'll take a minute or two to connect. It's a long way from Radiant Garden."

"That's true," Mickey agreed before turning to Roxas and Naminé. "Welp, from what I know, they're pushing about when you're actually going to be in Radiant Garden. The officials are getting a bit antsy, to be honest."

"Didn't we tell them that my birthday was in December, just to give us a little leeway?" Naminé asked him curiously.

"We did, and that's what they think," Mickey confirmed. "But they're still all anxious about that. To be honest, there's no way that they could get here, but if something happened and you had to stop at Radiant Garden before you're married, then there might be a chance that they won't let you leave."

"I'd like to see them try that," Roxas said bluntly. "So we just have to get married sooner, in theory, right?"

"My little Roxie," Lea said dramatically, putting his hands to his face as if wiping tears away, "all grown up and getting shackled to scary Naminé." There was a pause. "Does this mean I can have an awesome bachelor's party?"

The blonde girl just shook her head, a small smile appearing on her face. "Well, isn't the best man supposed to plan that? And that's Sora."

Lea just shrugged. "He's going to be too busy once dramatically-slow-appearing-world finally shows up. Besides, I think he could use a break from Hormones anyway." They both knew that he was actually referring to Hormones as a nickname for Kairi. "Though maybe I should be calling her Porky, because my god, that girl ate a lot earlier."

"Please do it," Roxas said, eyes widening with amusement. "She'll flip and try to castrate you."

Mickey smiled at them all slightly before the computer before them starting making noises. He looked at the screen and said, "Alright, looks like we're ready to go. You guys ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be," Naminé spoke up as Roxas nodded his head. She squeezed his hand tightly, suddenly nervous. She prayed that this was going to go well, but there was really no telling how the officials of Radiant Garden were going to react to anything.

**VVVVV**

The calls of extreme confusion were what awoke Sora from his very comfortable slumber early the next morning. The young man sat up slightly, looking around his room with confusion for a moment. His eyes slid to Kairi, who was also awake, staring at the open window as if she saw a flying pig outside of it. He slid out of the bed, rubbing his eyes as he stumbled across the room and to the window, hearing her shift a bit, but not get up behind him. He looked outside, blinking once and twice, before realizing what he was seeing. "I think the worlds are back together. Or, at least the islands and the town."

Kairi yawned, getting up with a relative ease that she knew would go away in a few months time. She came to his side, peering out the window, the familiar warm air and the scent of the ocean hitting her. Kairi breathed in deeply, closing her eyes for a moment before saying, "This place feels like Destiny Islands now."

Sora smiled slightly at her. "That's because it is." He looked outside again. "A lot of people are probably confused."

"Not as many as you'd think though," she pointed out.

Sora shrugged. "Maybe that has to do with Ven's memories, or something. I don't know. We should get ready and go see what's going on."

Though they got ready for the day in record timing, Sora was sure that he would never be as prepared as Mickey was. He was already up and waiting for them with Master Yen Sid, who looked somber as ever.

"Looks like everything's all connected again," Mickey said, though the words were really needless. Sora already came to that conclusion himself.

"Before your grandfather used his power to divide the world to save everyone, there was a council of people from the populated islands and the town. As powerful as your ancestors were, they and you are not omniscient, so they help bring up issues and act as representatives to the King or Queen," Yen Sid explained in his slow and steady tone. "Though I never met them, there does seem to be a group of people gathering just outside the gate."

"I noticed that too," Mickey agreed. "They seem to be calming everyone down."

"Well, I guess we should let them in if they are part of this council." His words seemed to echo in the stones of the magical castle itself, and the sound of the gates opening reached their ears. "I love this place."

"Me too," Kairi agreed. "Want to know what I'd love even more? Pancakes with strawberry pieces in it."

Sora was impressed that she wanted something so normal. While she didn't really have the option to be picky while traveling, but now that they were back home, she could have anything and everything that she wanted, which he quickly realized translated to very strange things.

"With relish," she added, causing him to sigh and shake his head, an amused smile appearing on his face. Mickey chuckled a bit at her words as well.

"Breakfast may have to wait," Yen Sid said seriously. "The people are approaching, and they do deserve answers."

Kairi pouted for only a moment before straightening her shoulders a bit. She started loosening the crossing straps on her sleeveless dress. At his curious glance, she said, "I'm making it loser so there's less of a chance that my stomach is the first thing that they'll notice. There's bound to be a few people that we know." She finished adjusting her dress, and Sora didn't have the heart to tell her that at four and a half months pregnant, with her naturally small features, it was still obvious.

She was prepared for judgement, she was honestly used to it now, and could handle the odd and judging looks from strangers. What she wasn't prepared for was for one of these council members to be her mother.

"Mom?"

"Kai—" She broke off mid-greeting, her eyes going wide as they almost instantly landed on the shape of her abdomen, her face going pale.

The others adults that were there just stared at them, and Sora knew that it was going to be a very long day.

**VVVVV**

Naminé knew that it was going to be a very long day. She didn't want to talk to Radiant Garden, but she knew that she had to. Their demands were simply

Naminé was already dressed up prim and properly, not in her normal casual clothes that she loved so much. While she was much more modest than her sister, even she found the long-sleeved, white turtle neck that she wore very uncomfortable. She fully intended on switching into something more appropriate as soon as possible. Twilight's Destiny appeared to have the same general climate as Destiny Islands had, rather than Twilight Town's slightly cooler climate, and the shirt she was wearing, along with the long, dress pants, was suffocating. She didn't even understand why she was wearing dress pants, it wasn't like the officials from Radiant Garden were going to see anything below her chest anyway.

Roxas grumbled beside her, picking at the button up shirt he had to wear. It was a plain blue shirt, which appeared odd on him since he didn't wear that much blue in general, but Donald scolded them about looking proper. Mickey was busy helping Sora and Kairi with their immediate issues of Twilight's Destiny finally fully materialized again. Roxas didn't say much of that situation, but she knew that Kairi's mother was apparently part of this council and her reaction to Kairi's pregnancy wasn't a hundred percent positive. That was all he got before he was ushered away.

Ienzo was in the room with them, and this surprised Naminé a bit, because she forgot that he was in the castle too. The young man was silent as he worked to set the system up, his grey hair falling into his eyes. She eyed him silently, a bit wary about him. While Zexion was never outwardly cruel to her, he definitely wasn't a nice guy. He was very intelligent, and because of that, he was very arrogant as well. He never had a care if he hurt someone in an experiment as long as he got results. She wasn't so sure about him now that he was whole. He seemed to still love research, and was quite happy being left alone.

"What do you do?" she blurted out, causing both him and Roxas to look at her. "Just read all day?"

"I do research about the worlds, especially this one. It's a curiosity amongst anything we've ever seen," he explained, and she was a bit surprised that he could talk at all. As a child, he apparently never spoke, and when he first appeared in Twilight's Destiny, he was silent as well. She wasn't really going to question it yet, but she kept it in her mind for later. "Sora asked me to do something for him, though."

"Like what?" Roxas asked. "And when?"

"Just last night, I think he was checking up on me," Ienzo said with a no nonsense voice. "He wants answers about the Endless. I've even been given a lab in the basement, though I imagine there's much more security than there appears to be."

"Riku doesn't trust you," Naminé informed him. "That makes him wary, because Sora trusts Riku probably more than anyone else, even Sora or Roxas. No offence." Roxas just shrugged. "I don't really trust you for that matter, not entirely. If Lea can still use his fire, you can still use your illusions."

"A very reasonable assumption," Ienzo agreed. "Though I have not found a reason to do so. Have you altered people's memories yet?"

She felt heat rising in her cheeks and quickly turned away, understanding what he was getting at. Just because someone had the ability to manipulate people, didn't mean that they were going to. She wasn't going to apologize though, just because she understood what he was saying didn't mean that she was going to forgive him for all the horrible things he had done in the past, or at least, that his Nobody had done.

"Alright," Ienzo said after fixing up the system that Donald managed to mess up while contacting Daisy the night before. "It should be good to go. Lea should be around somewhere and he knows quite a bit about this if the program has some glitches, though don't ask him to try and fix the hardware, he'll probably just burn it. I will be down in the lab if I'm needed." With that, he swiftly left the room.

Naminé barely had time to compose herself before the screen flickered on and the familiar faces of the Radiant Garden council appeared before her. For the millionth time, she wondered why they really needed a Queen as a figurehead, but was beyond questioning it out loud. It wasn't worth it.

"Princess Naminé," one man said, his voice already sounding disdainful, "so kind of you to contact us. Finally."

"Yes, well, trying to help save people and worlds is a bit time consuming," she replied evenly, deciding to not even bother with the innocent, naive act that she was originally going to put on. "It's not something that's quickly or easily done, as you must know, since Radiant Garden was in a very bad state before Sora saved it. Thank goodness he took the time to help our world, even though it had nothing to do with him." Her point was clear, she was going to continue helping the worlds and if they argued with her, saying that she needed to focus on Radiant Garden only, they'd all be labeled as hypocrites.

This seemed to occur to the men too, who did not seemed pleased at the teenaged princess one upping them. Another man cleared his throat. "Your eighteenth birthday his fast approaching, is it not, Princess?"

"Yes," now she was putting on a happy, bubbly exterior, "In three weeks. Roxas and I are getting married in two, and I'm so excited for it."

Roxas couldn't help but smile a bit. Whereas Sora was still freaking out about Kairi being pregnant and all the responsibility that was thrown so quickly onto him, Roxas accepted it and moved on. He was going to marry Naminé much earlier than he originally wanted to, but he did want to marry her eventually, so that was what mattered. He was going to be a figurehead King, or a Duke or something like that, he wasn't really sure, but the responsibility to act as role models and leaders was still going to be a huge one.

In a way, Roxas was always in Sora's shadow, and even though Sora was the King of Twilight's Destiny, this still differentiated him quite a bit, and he was a little glad for that.

"Prince Roxas of Twilight's Destiny," Roxas said, introducing himself, "we met before, right?"

"This ceremony, it's being held in your world?" an old man with a particularly big nose asked, almost grimacing at the thought.

"Why yes, it is," he nodded his head good-naturedly. "As you know, my brother, Princess Kairi's fiancé, is the King here. Princesses usually go with their husbands, but we agreed to go to Radiant Garden for you, so a compromise was to have a traditional isl…Twilight's Destiny wedding." His role was to seem easy-going and charming, something that he could effortlessly pull off when he wanted to. It was really a far cry from the random, but still relatively serious person (compared to his twin, at least) he actually was.

"We expect you to return here soon," the head of the council said. "The Prime Minister is looking forward to meeting you. Then we have to do the coronation. I assume that your…adventures with your rag-tag team will be finished soon? Perhaps a visit from our original Princess would be uplifting as well to the people here?"

That one stung, because while Kairi was first in-line for the throne because she was a few months older, she wasn't the 'original Princess'. Both girls knew that Kairi's mother, and then Naminé's mother, were in-line before them. If anything, Manami Kokoro, Kairi's mother, was the original Princess.

Roxas could tell that the comment bothered Naminé, and his eyes narrowed at the people before him. He lifted his head up a bit to give himself an air of indifference, and said, "I don't know if she'll be able to. She'll be in no condition to travel soon, and in a few months time she'll have a baby to look after, so I can't see any visits from her in the near future." He just wanted it to get through their heads that Naminé was their Princess and soon to be Queen now.

There was a heavy silence, and Naminé stared at Roxas with a horrified expression. IT wasn't until he thought back on what he said that he realized why. He just told them that Kairi was pregnant, and he made the fact that she was only engaged to his brother clear before that. He really wanted to put his foot in his mouth now.

"Princess Kairi is pregnant before her marriage?" Roxas slumped down in his chair, and Naminé sighed, knowing that she'd have to find a way to explain this. At least they were off the topic of her wedding so that she could finish planning it the way that she wanted.

Another thought came to her though. Why should she bother making up an excuse for Kairi? Sure, they already knew that there was a likely chance that outside interference that caused her to get pregnant, but it could have happened anyway. When they boiled down to it, the only ones to truly blame were Sora and Kairi themselves. To be honest, she was getting really sick of people focusing on Kairi and overly reacting to her. She wasn't the first teenager to get pregnant, and she was already half way through her pregnancy, as strange as that was to think. Naminé just really wanted to focus on something that wasn't her cousin. "Yes, she is, and no, she will not be getting married before the child's birth. However, that doesn't really effect you now, does it? It's the problem for the council of this world. I assume that you'll be planning the coronation?"

Roxas seemed a bit surprised at how straightforward she was being. It was a bit out of character for Naminé, who often skirted around the edges of things and kept quiet. She couldn't be quite and shy now, he knew that, otherwise they would walk all over both of them, but it was still slightly unnerving.

His mind flittered over to his brother, wondering how he was handle his own council.

**VVVVV**

Sora was having an absolutely miserable day. Kairi's mother, he could deal with her reaction. The woman was obviously shocked and a bit disappointed, but having so many other accusing or disgusted looks didn't help. For what it was worth, those who came from Twilight Town didn't seem to care all that much, it just meant that there was guaranteed to be an heir to the throne already, and because of the way that the crown was handed down the family lines, that was fine with them. It was the people from Destiny Islands that got him.

There were twelve people in total, two from each of the populated island in the chain – Destiny Island, Future Island, Hope Island and Faith Island. The people from Future and Hope didn't really seem to care either, Future being a busy city where teenage pregnancy was probably a little more common, and Hope where it was mostly a university island, so they knew full well what young adults and teenagers could be like. Those from Faith seemed completely disgusted, and those from Destiny just seemed disappointed. They really needed to get over it, in Sora's opinion. The baby wasn't going anywhere, and neither were they.

He felt like a bit of a hypocrite, to be honest.

The worst was probably the looks that he got from Ryuu Keimei, Riku's father, and Suzu. At least now, Sora knew why his mother was close to Riku and Kairi's families even before he really became friends with them.

Right now, people were talking and arguing, and he could barely keep up with what was happening. They already explained the how and the why the world came back together, and all of these people just accepted that explanation. Apparently weird things happening was perfectly acceptable for all of them. It was how to explain this to everyone else and to make sure that the world ran smoothly like it once had.

Mickey was there as Sora's mentor, while Yen Sid loomed silently at the opposite end of the table from Sora, his presence stopping anyone from lashing out too badly. Mickey already suggested that the castle set an example but doing business with markets from both areas instead of just generating its own food. A man from Twilight Town explained that, in the past, the castle only provided things like that when there wasn't any food or goods at all, so they'd have to do that, but the point was still valid.

Kairi was uncomfortable, he could see that. The person originally sitting closest to her was from Faith Island, and he promptly looked disgusted and switched seats with someone. She was bordering between tears and outright anger, but he didn't know which one he'd prefer. Sora was just glad that she kept it all in so far.

While everyone spoke back and fourth, he leaned back slightly, staring at Kairi with interest before he said, "So, we're suppose to be throwing Roxas and Naminé a wedding with all of this chaos going on?"

"I guess so," she agreed with a disheartened shrug.

"Roxas and Naminé are getting married?" They looked around at the voice of Kairi's mother, who seemed rather taken back by that fact.

Kairi nodded her head. "Yes. Radiant Garden originally wanted me to go back there and get married to some guy I don't know, but because I was with Sora, and because I have no doubt that they'd find a way to get rid of my baby, I said no and Naminé stepped up instead. She wasn't originally put together with someone else, so she has to marry Roxas before she turns 18 so they'll leave her alone."

"Why would…Radiant Garden do that?" Ryuu Keimei asked slowly.

"Oh, my uncle was the King of Radiant Garden," Kairi said with a wave of her hand. "Our mothers were his sisters, so they were the Princesses, as are we."

"I didn't know that," her mother said weakly.

"So, a born Prince gets a born Princess knocked up before marriage?" the man from Faith Island sneered.

Sora's eyes narrowed and he asked, "What's your name?"

"Ken Takaishi," he replied.

Sora smiled brightly at him. "Well, Ken Takaishi, I dare you to keep mouthing off to her. I dare you."

There was a heavy silence in the room. On one hand, it was obvious that this Ken Takaishi wanted nothing more than to lash out at Sora for being an arrogant teenager, but on the other, he was the King of Twilight's Destiny and there was nothing anyone could do about that. He wisely chose to stay silent.

"Maybe we could use this wedding." Everyone looked down at a small woman at the table, who suddenly seemed embarrassed. "It's just, it'll be a big celebration, and maybe we could have a festival, parties, dances, markets, things like that. You know, to bring everyone together."

"That's actually a really good idea," Kairi said, but then shrunk back when people looked at her, most obviously thinking that she couldn't tell the difference between right and wrong, but not daring to say it and risk Sora's wrath. "Well it is."

As everyone else began talking about this idea and expanding on it, Mickey took the chance to speak quietly to them. "Listen, you're doing okay Sora, these people won't cross you because they don't have a choice, but Kairi, despite the situation, you're going to have to ignore the looks they give you and stand your ground. These people are all, in different ways, politicians by nature. They'll notice your weakness and pounce on and make sure to remind them that you will be their Queen one day soon. Make sure they know that."

Kairi thought about this for a moment and nodded her head. Her eyes shifted to her mother, who was staring at her with a solemn expression. "I don't think I can with my mother."

Mickey chuckled. "You don't have to, not for that."

Sora peaked over at the woman as well, feeling a bit sick at the prospect of actually talking to her about Kairi's pregnancy. While people showed their disapproval and shock before, no one really growled or gave them grief about it before. He had a feeling that fact would change by the end of the night.

He wondered how Naminé was doing with Radiant Garden, hoping that she didn't share the same headache he had.

**VVVVV**

Midori was laying down on her own bed away from the madness. Not the bed in the castle, she'd long abandoned that place once she realized that she wasn't needed for all the stuff going on that day, but in the bed that she had in the house that she shared with Sora and Roxas only months ago. How things had changed since then.

She was a little sad that she would never have to fight for the washroom with them anymore, or worry about Roxas burning the place down. She would miss Roxas' snores from down the hall, and the sound of Sora and Kairi trying to sneak into the house late at night unnoticed, but she always did notice them before putting in her own headphones.

There was a light knock on her opened door, and she looked around with surprise, raising an eyebrow when she saw Riku standing there. She sat up, still staring at him curiously, but he ignored that, sitting on the end of the bed.

"Everything's different," Midori said suddenly before he could say why he was there. "Too different. I don't like it. I can't imagine how they're dealing with it."

"Roxas and Naminé seem to be handling it okay," Riku said, "And Kairi's doing the best that she can. Sora's the one that's been completely thrown for a loop today."

"I know," she nodded her head. "He never wanted this. Hell, he probably would be more open to the baby if he didn't have to worry about being the King of this place. In a way, I hate these worlds for that."

"What do you mean?"

"Arranged marriages? Or at least deadlines to get married? Being forced to rule? It's all crap, and you know it! We already go to war to defend the universe, why do they have to give up everything else?" Sometime during her rant, Midori jumped to her feet, pacing back and fourth. "It's not fair to them. These stupid worlds, they just keep on taking and taking from people."

"There's nothing we can do about that," Riku replied with a shake of his head. "I understand what you're getting at though. Just a few months ago, I was graduating from high school, laughing and trying to help Sora figure out what he wanted to do after he graduated. Now it's all just planned out for them."

She smiled bitterly. "Well, there is something we could do about it, but I think everyone would frown on it a lot."

Riku didn't ask exactly what that was, he had a good idea of what she was getting at. Once again, he shook his head, turning his gaze out the window and towards the ocean. "Want to go to the play island?"

Midori stopped her pacing, pulling at the fabric of the long, white shirt that she wore under her green one, before nodding her head. "Yeah. Some time even farther away from all of this would be great, especially before other little monsters start trying to take over that island."

"Yeah," he said faintly, leading the way out of the house. Midori never looked back as she closed the door, but she did lock it firmly with her Keyblade. It was the last time anyone would go in there for a long time.

**VVVVV**

Kingdom Hearts, though seen all day long in Twilight's Destiny, was much more noticeable when the sun went down, bathing the world below it in a soft blue glow. It was a peaceful night, with people still exploring their new surroundings (after getting a warning not to wander into the nearby jungle, since there were dangerous animals in there), while many were returning home to relax.

Such a thing was not going to come to Sora Hikari. He sat beside Kairi on a couch, slumped down slightly as her mother paced back and fourth in front of them, a cross look on her face. After dinner, and once they were all settled down from the day, she cornered the two of them, forcing them to sit and listen to her rant about being irresponsible. Neither of them tried to make excuses, neither tried to talk back, they both just sat there and took her rant.

Kairi kept a brave face throughout her adoptive mother scolding them, but now that the woman was silently pacing, Sora noticed that tears were starting to build up in her eyes. He was getting used to the roller-coaster that was her emotions, but they still perplexed him at times. One thing he wasn't confused about though, was the fact that he didn't like to see her in tears.

He reached out, taking her hand into his own. Kairi looked at him, and Sora smiled just slightly. That's when she broke. Kairi burst into tears, practically throwing herself at Sora, crying onto his shoulder.

Suzu was visibly startled by the outburst, looking over at them with wide eyes. Sora just shrugged silently as he hugged Kairi. The woman sighed and took a seat beside them, looking so much older than she actually was. "There's no taking this back, Kairi."

The redhead shifted so that she could look at her mother and said, "I'm not putting it up for adoption. This is my baby. I know I can't take it back, I know. I—I don't expect you to accept this or help or anything, I know it has to be me and I—"

"Not help?" she seemed utterly scandalized by this. "Why on earth wouldn't I help? I'm going to be a grandmother, of course I'll help." Suzu sighed. "I'll help because I know you won't try to pawn responsibilities off onto anyone else, and because I know so much was thrown at you all at once. Of course I'll help you. I might not have given birth to you like you will to this child, but you're still my daughter."

Kairi, who managed to calm herself split seconds before that, started crying again, this time grappling onto the woman. Sora couldn't help but smile a bit a he watched them together. Maybe this whole world coming back together thing wasn't going to be as bad as he previously thought.

**VVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Sorry about the wait guys, had to move back in, then I had to wait for my internet to be hooked back up, and then my friend came to hang out on the weekend. Oh, and I guess school started again. Can't forget about that.

I know this chapter and the next chapter aren't rife with excitement, but there's more coming after.

First off, thank you to everyone who reviewed. I meant to reply to them, but see all above mentions. Thanks go out to: Trainalf, Nytox, Q-A the Authoress, SilverPaopu, KHLostEmpress, dimidium draco and soushin5.

Secondly, there were a few good questions this time around. That included things like will the group be enough for the fight ahead. Well, I never really answered this in the original one, I just kind of had them there then mentioned that they got cramped in a gummi ship and trained. This time it's different. The ones that are there now are going to stay with Mickey and Yen Sid to train while the main six in this (Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Naminé and Midori) continue on to get the others. That way, they train off screen, but I don't have to remember them for the time being. I forgot about characters so much last time.

Another one was, if Ven comes back to life, does that mean Sora's dying again. This one was from KHLostEmpress, and I applaud her for remembering that from Sleep. I did think about that, and I will be addressed, but just not yet. I just wanted to share the question for everyone else to think about.

And lastly, yes, Roxas and Naminé are getting married in this, but Sora and Kairi aren't. Unless you were looking forward to it, I'm happy to say that the wedding itself isn't present in this. Sorry for spoilers. The next chapter is much more about character development, including Kairi giving Sora an ultimatum. I planned it out for a later chapter, but it just ended up appearing here. Funny how that happens.

I think that's all for now, but if you have any kind of questions, comments or concerns, don't hesitate to send them. I may not answer all questions directly, but you never know, I just might be in a spoiler-ish mood.

_**Krystal Lily Potter **_


	26. Destiny's Union

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Twenty-Five – Destiny's Union_

When the gummi ship from Disney arrived, carrying Queen Minnie Mouse and her entourage on it, many of the citizens of Twilight's Destiny pointed up at it in awe. None of them had come across a gummi ship before, let alone one as nice as Queen Minnie's personal ship. The citizens were desperately trying to get used to this strange new world that was a combination of places that were split apart for eighteen years. Both Twilight Town and Destiny Islands were naturally peaceful places, but it was difficult for them to adjust, especially the children who had no recollection of Twilight's Destiny, or weren't born at the time. Oddly enough, many of the adults that were around found it almost comforting, like they were finally home again. The world was safe, because their monarch had the power of Kingdom Hearts to protect them. It was a bit disconcerting for some people to know that it was Sora Hikari of all people, but those who remembered the proud family of royals knew had faith in him.

The actual council, which consisted of almost the same members as when the world first split apart, only those who passed away absent, weren't so sure about him though. They kept that to themselves, but they already whispered amongst their group. Those from Destiny Islands knew what Sora was like personally, but those of Twilight Town simply knew him as the kid that came around and saved them from the odd creatures that kept showing up. The big thing that made them question him though was the fact that his girlfriend was pregnant.

For Suzu Yamada, this was a particularly stunning revelation. She accepted, as soon as her memories started to return, that Kairi would become the Queen of Twilight's Destiny. It wasn't uncommon for someone on Destiny Islands to get engaged after their eighteenth birthday anyway, so she was happy with her adopted daughter when she showed her the ring that Sora gave her. While she knew fully well that Kairi was in an intimate, physical relationship with Sora, she honestly didn't expect to see the bulge on her stomach that looked so much bigger because of how small she was. In any other world, the two of them would have been thrown from the castle and hidden away faster than any paparazzi could catch on, but Twilight's Destiny was different. There was no getting rid of Sora, only one person per generation could hold the power of Kingdom Hearts and be named King or Queen, and he wasn't about to get rid of Kairi. It might not have been so bad if they just agreed to get married, but Kairi wanted to do it on her own time, not because she had to.

Besides, they were getting a wedding. Instead of Kairi and Sora, it was Naminé and Roxas who were tying the knot. This stunned Suzu more than anything else. Of course it would, sweet little Naminé seemed like the type to wait a bit.

"Waiting means Radiant Garden could choose a husband for me though," Naminé explained quite clearly to her the first night they were there. "I'm their Princess, and they want Kairi or me. I want to rule there, even just as a figure head. I need a husband to do it though, and the only one I want is Roxas. I'd love for you to be there."

Princess Kairi Corwyn and Princess Naminé Rosemary of Radiant Garden, that came as a surprise to everyone.

The council leapt on the idea of the wedding, even if it wasn't between Sora and Kairi. Though Naminé planned the basics of it, and Minnie had the rest of the plans, they all agreed that having a big wedding with festival activities, promoting everyone to live and have fun together, was exactly what the people from Destiny Islands and Twilight Town needed. Plans were made and word spread quickly. Decorations of gold and purple, Naminé's chosen colours, flourished everywhere as vendors, games, dances and shows began to start. The big event was scheduled to happen the next day though.

Queen Minnie's timely arrival, with all of the actual wedding decorations, dresses, tuxes and so many other things set Naminé at ease a little bit. She was completely stressed out, though she heard it was normal when plans changed quickly for a wedding. Her initial worry was that Minnie wouldn't be able to get there on time and she'd have to make due with a dress that wasn't exactly what she wanted, so she almost felt tears of relief on her face.

The brooms from Disney Castle, as well as Max, Goofy, Donald, and most of the male Keyblade Bearers helped carry off all the heavy boxes of wedding decorations and other items that Minnie arranged. The Queen, if anything, was meticulous and organized, she knew what everything was and where to send it to. She was quick to shoo Naminé away though, telling her to relax a little.

The blonde couldn't relax though. She was getting married within twenty-four hours, shedding her last name in favour of Hikari. She tried to settle down by painting, but she wasn't really sure what she wanted to paint or draw.

A sudden knock on the door made her jump, knocking over her (thankfully) closed tubes of paint. "Naminé, are you okay?"

She recognized Sora's voice, and let out a breath as she straightened up the mess she made. "Yeah, come in. The door's unlocked."

Sora walked in, raising an eyebrow at her. "You seem a bit, fidgety."

"What makes you say that?" He'd only taken one look at her, there was no way he could know how nervous she was.

"Roxas pointed out that you tap your foot a lot when your nervous or anxious." She ignored his words, instead distracted by the large, black bag in his arms.

"What's that?"

"Minnie sent me here with this," Sora explained. "Daisy will be down in a few minutes to help with it, but it's my job to protect it from my brother. It's your wedding dress."

Her indigo eyes went wide as she darted forward, snatching the bag from him. "Close the door!" Once he did, she almost immediately began removing her shirt.

"Naminé!" Sora cried out, turning around quickly. "What the hell?"

"I'll need some help doing up the zipper," she explained in a matter of fact way. "You're the dress' honour guard, so guard it. Plus you'd do anything to help your future little sister, wouldn't you?"

Sora chuckled a bit at that. "Oh, I don't mind helping you out. I was more or less just stunned that you were basically stripping down in front of me. You're Naminé. You don't do things like that."

Naminé had the decency to be embarrassed about that. "I guess not. I just got so excited to see the dress. I've been dying to see it ever since I got word from Minnie that she ordered it. I hope it fits."

"Don't worry, the Three Good Fairies are coming if the worst case scenario happens," Sora explained. "To be fair, if it doesn't fit, it'd be because you've lost a bit of weight recently. You should eat more. Anyway, Minnie told me to tell you that they were coming.

They'll be able to fix it without a problem. Though make sure they know that you don't want the colour changed. After I woke up in Twilight Town wearing clothes that were way too small for me, all they did was argue about the colour of my new clothes until I got frustrated."

"Great," she said dryly. "That's all I need is more stress. I have so much help planning this massive wedding, but I don't know why people would choose to have such a huge one on their own." She paused. "Kairi's going to do that. I just know she is. Help zip me up?"

Sora turned around felt his breath catch in his throat. "Wow Nam, you look beautiful. You're going to knock Rox's socks off tomorrow…amongst other things." The last part was added with a dramatic wriggling of his eyebrows.

Normally, she would just role her eyes at the remark, but given the situation, she actually found it funny. It was probably just the stress getting to her. She snorted and said, "Thanks." He helped her zip up her dress, and she finally allowed herself to look in the mirror. The white dress was exactly what she imagined: beautiful, elegant, classy, and it still kept her modesty without making her look old fashioned. She spun around, grinning as she saw that, while she didn't get any glitter or gemstones on her dress, the fabric itself had just a slight shimmer to it. She turned and grinned at Sora. "You really think it looks nice? It's not too…prudish?"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "No, who told you that?"

"Kairi, when I decided it was what I wanted," she admitted, sounding almost apologetic.

"She's also pregnant," Sora pointed out.

Her mouth fell open in shock, but at the same time, twisted up a bit into a smile at his words. "With your kid!" She didn't know whether to scold him or laugh at him.

"And I'm just saying, probably tampering of a creepy old man aside, her little non-prudish dresses didn't help the situation any!"

She laughed and shook her head. "You're horrible, Sora." Her expression suddenly shifted into a thoughtful one. "Minnie brought the dresses for her and Midori, right?"

"As far as I know, Minnie brought everything plus more with her," he replied, remembering the look on everyone's faces when they saw the sheer amount of boxes that the diminutive queen brought with her. "I saw your cake too."

Her eyes went wide at that. "Oh, I'll have to go check that out too. Just to make sure it's what I wanted." She was about to leave the room, but the door completely vanished just before she could grab it. Turning to face her soon-to-be brother-in-law, she raised an eyebrow.

"I know I can make this castle into anything I want," Sora said, and then motioned towards her, "but trying to hide you while you run around in your wedding dress with be way too annoying."

"Good point. Plus I wouldn't want to get it dirty," Naminé agreed after a moment. She moved towards the mirror again and looked at it. "I think this fits perfectly. Minnie is amazing. It wouldn't surprise me if she even got Kairi's to fit perfectly."

"I hope so," he grimaced, "but either way, she's probably going to complain about it. You know I love her, I really do, but she has a tendency to switch all issues to be about her lately, especially with the…baby. But it's your and Roxas' day tomorrow, so don't let her get you down then or today, okay? Say what you need to say, I can take her bad moods."

"Thanks, Sora," she grinned at him and suddenly threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

"For what? Taking Kairi's wrath from you?" he asked, visibly amused as he hugged her back.

"No," Naminé took a step away from him, still smiling. "Just…everything. If you wouldn't have been…well…you, neither Roxas or I would be here for this. You got me away from Marluxia, gave me a second chance then, and then gave me my life back. You also made sure that Roxas didn't completely disappear and then allowed him to come back too. So yeah, thank you."

Sora just smiled at her. "You're welcome."

**VVVVV**

"Holy cake, Batman!"

Roxas and Riku stood in the kitchen, staring at the massive marvel that was the wedding cake Naminé ordered with pure awe. It wasn't just one cake though, it was three huge, five tiered cakes decorated with purple, gold and silver, but instead of just flowers, there were also stars and edible beads and gemstones on it.

They were both horrible at trying to describe the masterpiece, they just wanted to eat it.

"What was that I heard about cake?" Lea's voice suddenly rang out as he came into the kitchen. He stopped short, bright green eyes taking in the object before him. "Yes it is, Robin."

"Why do I have to be Robin?" Roxas suddenly whined. "Robin sucks, and you're not Batman!"

"Why not? I'm skulk around in the shadows wearing all black, keeping my face covered most of the time. I have awesome strength, a separate name, and I'm downright sexy," Lea said as if all the above facts were obvious. "I'm not the hero Twilight's Destiny deserves, I'm the hero it needs."

Riku stared at him and slowly clapped. "Well done. Obviously not true, but well done."

Roxas stuttered a bit, staring at his friend with wide eyes before flailing his hands around. "Well, I'm a billionaire orphan, meaning I can make myself all his gadgets, hence I am the Batman! You are my strange sidekick! And Riku...he can be Alfred because he has grey hair."

"It was born _silver_, not grey," Riku grumbled, but Roxas just waved him off.

"Huh, you are a rich kid now, aren't you?" Lea said thoughtfully. "Never thought about that before. Imagine all the sea-salt ice cream we can buy!"

This was the conversation that Kairi ended up walking in on. She just stared at Lea with an odd expression (which was far better than her complete distrusting look that she gave him before, in his opinion), before looking at Roxas and saying, "I'm losing my ice cream buddy to Twiggy here?"

Roxas laughed and Lea asked, "Twiggy?"

"You call me Hormones," she shot back, though none of them knew how she actually knew that. "Hence, I can point out the fact that you're tall, but skin and bones. Almost like a twig."

Riku chuckled at her reasoning, and Roxas threw an arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry, Kai, I'll always be your ice cream buddy." His eyes widened with delight suddenly, "Then I'll make the little guy be my mini ice cream buddy so people won't question why I chase the ice cream trucks around! I'll be the best uncle ever, since I'll always have some with me!"

Kairi took a step away from him and crossed her arms in front of her stomach. "You are not making my child fat."

"Sora and I can eat whatever the hell we want," Roxas pointed out, "neither of us are fat. You used to be like that too!"

Her eyes narrowed. "Are you calling me fat, Roxas?"

Lea assumed that Roxas would apologize so that he could live to actually see his wedding day, so he was really taken back when the blond shrugged and said, "You probably want to eat that entire cake."

Kairi looked around at the wedding cake, as if seeing it for the first time. Her eyes went wide, and an excited smile appeared on her face. "It looks amazing! Did you know that Naminé designed all of this? She drew it and sent the drawings to Minnie. I won't lie, I do want to eat it now."

"Don't touch it, Naminé would probably notice," Riku pointed out. It was something that they all agreed on, but the temptation was almost too much. The four of them decided that it was probably best to vacate the kitchen all together, but not before Kairi grabbed some pickles and chocolate sauce. This both fascinated and disgusted all three young men once they settled in one of the living rooms.

"Kairi," Lea said suddenly, "I wanted to apologize for before. For kidnapping you and holding you prisoner." He looked down. "I told Sora that I was hoping to draw him in, to get Roxas back. I couldn't have though, I know that now. I shouldn't have dragged you through that portal, because I knew Sora would find you either way and I could just move then. I regretted it as soon as I knew the Organization had you. I really am sorry."

She stared at him with an unreadable face before looking down at her hands. "I just don't like feeling helpless. I always get captured, no matter what I do. Feeling helpless..." Tears welled up in her eyes as she set her random food down, drawing her legs up as close as she could to her, trying to curl herself up into a ball to protect both herself and her unborn child.

Riku and Roxas exchanged glances, because every once and a while she would lose herself in the horrible memories of what happened to her, becoming completely blank and unresponsive. Neither of them wanted that to happen, because even Sora had a hard time working her out of that, though she still did want him around her. There were no screams or huge amounts of tears anymore, the last time that happened was when her mother found out about the incident, but at those moments there was always a haunted look in her eyes.

Riku put his arm around her shoulder before she could go into her shell and said, "Nothing like that will ever happen like you again Kairi, and not because we're protecting you, but because you can get yourself out of any situation now. You're practically an escape artist now. And you can kick ass."

A small smile appeared on her face. "I guess." She looked over at Lea, her eyes much softer than they normally would while regarding him. "I can forgive you, because there are much worse things that could have happened."

Lea knew something horrible happened to this happy, kind young woman before, and instantly felt a bit resentful to whoever it was that hurt her, the same resent he often felt towards himself. He couldn't know that it was so much worse though. Not until Roxas explained everything so that he wouldn't say a few key 'trigger words' around her that would either make her go blank, or make her rage. It was always hard to tell which reaction they were going to get. For now though, she forgave him, and the fact that there wouldn't be anymore awkward silences in the room when they were both there meant a lot to him. It made him feel a little more like he belonged.

**VVVVV**

Midori ran as quickly as she could on the treadmill, never stopping, though sweat was already glistening on her dark skin. It was only early in the morning, but people were already up and running around the castle, making last minute preparations for Roxas and Naminé's wedding later that day. She wanted to be away from all of the craziness, choosing to tune the world out with music blaring in her ears as she ran. Even if everyone else was still asleep, she still would have pulled on her sports bra, spandex running shorts, socks and sneakers to come to the gym that she requested Sora make.

"Run faster, Midori," she mumbled under her breath. "Why aren't you doing better in school, Midori? Why aren't you the top of your martial arts class, Midori?" Resentment rushed through her as she could remember her mother's voice, even though she hadn't seen her in years. Her home, Forbidden World, was a matriarchal one, so her mother was the head of the house. Her word was law, and by her laws, her youngest daughter wasn't what she should have been. Not like perfect Natsuda Noctis. "Who's the better one now, Nattie? Who's alive and who is a zombie just stumbling around?"

Having Emiliana around reminded her so much of her frustrating older sister. Midori, in comparison to the delicate features of Naminé, Kairi or even the afore mentioned girl, had a more strong, serious look to her. Naminé assured her that she wasn't any less pretty, but she knew that she was different. She wasn't ugly or butch by any means, but she didn't have the classic beauty that Naminé had with her blonde hair and blue eyes, or the majestic beauty that came with Kairi's crimson hair, or even the sheer sexy appeal that came from Emiliana. She wasn't outwardly self-conscious anymore, but she hated reminders from her past, from a time when she was very conscious of everything she did. Always compared to her sister, as well as her best friend, and she always hated it.

The treadmill started to slow down automatically, and she took a deep breath, drinking from her water bottle. She only then really focused on her surroundings, slightly surprised to see Hercules there, easily lugging around massive weights. She made her way over to him, watching curiously before she said, "These must be different from what you're used to."

"They are," he agreed, "but I swore to Phil that I'd keep up all of my training. I wasn't born like this. I was actually a really skinny, lanky kid."

She tilted her head slightly. "I thought you were naturally strong."

"I am," Hercules nodded his head as he moved a few more weights. "It's my gift as a Demi-God. Any sort of exercise helps though. Aladdin and Riku actually said that they were going to meet me here for a morning workout. I'm just getting things ready."

She nodded her head, a smile appearing on her face. "Well, I'm going to get out of here before this place reeks of testosterone. Remember, you guys all need to shower and wear the clothes that were left in your rooms."

"What clothes?"

"Oh, Sora got the castle to put them there," she didn't bother acknowledging how weird that actually was. "They should be styles you're comfortable with, but more formal so Naminé doesn't flip."

"This castle makes its own clothes?" Hercules asked, blue eyes going wide with amazement.

"Just for now. Something about helping the economy and buying things from locals…I don't know. Emergencies only, I guess. It took him several tries to get the closet to appear with everything in it. Have fun working out, but don't be too long. If you guys aren't ready, especially Riku, Nam will probably set you all on fire." There was no joking tone to her voice, she was completely serious.

Turning to leave, Midori spied Aladdin and Riku coming down the hall, nodding to them as they walked by. She decided that she really needed a shower before the true craziness began.

**VVVVV**

Everything was going perfectly, in Naminé's opinion. Minnie did an amazing job working in everything that Naminé envisioned her wedding day to be, though admittedly she always thought that she'd have a small wedding, not the most massive one that she ever heard of, but she took that in strides. At least she was marrying someone she loved. Still, the flowers were perfect, the cake was beautiful, and the dresses were exactly what she envisioned. Everything was as perfect as it could be.

At least, it was until it all went straight to hell.

It started with a table that was temporarily holding some desserts falling, dropping the desserts onto the open boxes with the decorations for the reception hall (that was actually a big ballroom), smearing icing, chocolate, and various other sticky things onto it. A few people that she knew from the islands, as well as most of the council members and the other Keyblade Bearers, were all trying to help her, and assured her that they would fix everything up for her.

She hadn't seen Riku, Hercules or Aladdin lately though, and they were the physically strongest people that she knew, and the fact that she couldn't find them to get them to help made her rage a little. She really wanted to punch someone when they thought that they hadn't ordered enough food, and Hayner ended up knocking over a non-breakable decoration onto a bunch of the flowers she needed for decorations.

One look at her face, and she was ushered out of the room quickly by her friends so that she could get ready herself.

It was surprising how well the younger people seemed to take the worlds colliding and becoming one bigger one. It might have had to do with a few of them experiencing other worlds before, but they took to it fairly easily. Selphie, for one, was ecstatic to meet Olette again, having spend time with her in Radiant Garden when they were both refugees. They both insisted on helping Naminé as much as they could for the wedding, and they were the ones to drag her away before she could murder Hayner.

Naminé was sitting on a chair in her room, letting Suzu do her hair in an up-do with some stray ringlets and curls. She was honestly surprised to see how happy the woman was, so she had to ask about it.

"Most people marry young here," the woman explained as she held a curling iron in her hair. "So after the initial shock, all I can be is happy. You've been such a strong girl, even if it doesn't seem like it, and though you haven't physically been with us as long as Kairi has, I see you like my daughter too, and I know that my husband would have as well. I'm proud of you. You'll be a good leader."

That calmed down Naminé's nerves a little. There was a knock at the door, and Mulan shyly came in. She moved towards the blonde, who stared at her curiously. She was already dressed up in a traditional, formal dress reminiscent of one from Land of Dragons but made from a silky purple and gold material. She smiled at Naminé and said, "I ran into Roxas a minute ago, and he's panicking because he can't remember what colour tie he's supposed to wear, since he apparently got two of them. He reminds me of the chickens that Little Brother bothered too much at home, he's all twitchy."

Though it was probably meant to be amusing, and normally she would have chuckled a little at Roxas' helplessness, it just annoyed her. She puffed out her cheeks angrily and snapped, "Really? I told him a hundred times that the purple one is his. I have gold accents, my bridesmaids are mostly in purple. He wears purple accents, and the groomsmen have gold ties. It's not that hard."

Her voice must have come out harsher than she meant to, because Suzu shot her a disapproving scowl while Mulan mumbled a quick apology and scurried out of the room. Naminé couldn't feel bad about her attitude, the day started so well and now it was slowly turning into a miserable one. Her adopted mother, since that's really was Suzu was to her, despite the fact that she and Kairi were cousins and not sisters, didn't say anything about her snapping at Mulan, but she didn't seem all that pleased either.

Once her hair was done, they began working on the makeup. The woman was always a fashionable one, she knew how to make Naminé's hair and makeup compliment her dress, so there were no mishaps or accidents with getting her ready. That still didn't put Naminé in a good mood, not until she finally got her actual wedding dress on.

She stared at herself in the mirror, remembering how Sora told her she looked beautiful in it. Sora wasn't the type to lie or just needlessly compliment the people close to him, so she knew that he was telling the truth. Maybe she was just nervous now, but she felt like there was so much she could improve.

There was a sudden knock on her door, but before she could ask who it was, Midori's voice called out to her. "It's just me and Kairi, ready for judgement."

"Come in." This was going to be her first time seeing either of them in the dress that she chose for them. They were made from a dark purple fabric that was snug on the chest and to the hips before flaring out a bit so that the bottom was loose and flowing, ending mid-thigh. There was a gold ribbon just under their chest to match the more detailed one on her white wedding dress, and the groomsmen were going to be done in a similar way, all with gold ties while the boutonnieres they had were made from mostly purple flowers, similar to Roxas'.

Naminé was honestly surprised when she saw Midori, because while she had seen her sort of dress up for a date, she was the type of girl who hated wearing dresses or skirts. The closest she ever came to even looking like she had a dress on was the long, white shirt that she wore under her normal green on that came down to her thighs to cover her black leggings she always wore. Her hair was up in a messier bun, and her face had a light amount of makeup on, but it didn't hide just how unimpressed she was for wearing a dress in general. The unimpressed look wouldn't be on her face during the wedding though, Naminé knew she could count on that.

"You look great, Midi," Naminé said happily, clapping her hands together.

"Glad it makes you happy," Midori said, "because I really dislike this. It's all for you, Nami." Surprisingly, for hating dresses, skirts, and especially heels, she was able to move in it all really well. The heels weren't very tall though, because Naminé didn't want anyone with huge ones on.

Now, Naminé looked at Kairi, who was silent the entire time, a strange thing for her. Her cousin looked just as beautiful, the same dress on her as Midori, and even her hair was done the same way. There was just a slight bit of read around the rim of her eyes though, startling Naminé a bit, and while she looked beautiful, she seemed really uncomfortable about something. "You look just as good as Midori, but is something wrong?"

"As long as your happy, it doesn't matter, not today," Midori said quickly, causing Naminé's suspicions to rise a bit. Kairi avoided her cousin's accusing glare until she finally broke.

"Fine, a few of the council members tried to get me to step down from being your maid of honour because I'm pregnant and it's even more obvious in this dress than anything else I've ever worn. They said if I was a matron of honour instead, it'd be a good symbol, but now it'll just bring shame to you. I was a bit upset, but I told them to forget it. They're still not happy though."

Naminé groaned a bit, the frustration rushing back to her, though that might have been from a loud crash that echoed down the hall, no doubt something else that she wanted shattering. Her eyes narrowed at Kairi and she snapped, "Well fix your makeup again. It's my day, and I don't want the fact that you couldn't keep your legs closed to ruin it, so stop complaining and thinking everything's about you."

Midori's entire body went tense, and Kairi's eyes narrowed at her. There were no tears, no embarrassment, just anger on her face. Kairi clenched her hands into fists, the nails digging into her palms. "You asked me what happened! I know it's your day and I wasn't going to say anything! I don't want anyone to focus on me at all! I'm really happy for you, Naminé, and you deserve all the attention that you're going to get, but just because a few things, that were fixed by magic a few minutes later, went wrong this morning, doesn't give you the right to be a complete bitch! You should know that magic could fix it all, you're the witch of the group, aren't you?" Kairi spun on her heel, her dress swishing around her, looking very much like a mother who was highly disappointed in her child, and left the room.

Midori didn't say anything, Naminé just stared at the door with a stunned, angry expression. This was why, if Midori ever did get married, she wanted nothing to do with a big, dramatic wedding, though she didn't really want to get married, so that wouldn't be a problem with that. For now though, she would just do whatever it took to make sure that Naminé didn't kill or at the very least, offend anyone else.

**VVVVV**

Sora looked up as Kairi stormed into the room, looking both beautiful and deadly from the expression on her face. He was instantly wary, but at the same time, not as much as he would have been if she did not look as positively alluring as she did. He cursed his mind for finding her anger, or at least the expression on her face when she was angry, wildly attractive.

She muttered to herself, pacing back and fourth, and he knew better than to say anything just yet. He knew to let her wear herself out a bit, or at least wait until she shifted emotions from her outright anger. He made the mistake of moving his arm and almost knocked over the lamp beside him, so he had to scurry to grab that, drawing her attention to him.

Indigo eyes narrowed as she eyed him for a moment and snapped, "Why must your hair be so erinaceous?"

"Air in the what now?" he asked slowly, but this only seemed to set her off more.

"It means pertaining to, or resembling, in this case I mean resembling, a hedgehog."

Now Sora was really wary. "What happened?" He was going to let the insult slide, especially since it didn't really hit or sting him like some things she said when she was in these angry, hormone-induced states did.

"Naminé," she said. "I remembered what you told me last night. You know I don't mean to draw attention away from anyone else and to myself, so I tried to just not mention anything bothering me, but she could tell something was wrong so I told her that stupid Ken Takaishi told me I shouldn't be in the wedding party because you can really tell I'm pregnant in this stress and she got mad, telling me to fix my makeup and once again implying that I'm pregnant because I'm a slut." She slammed her hand onto the dresser, startling him. Now tears were starting to build up in her eyes. "I hate it, Sora."

"Hate what?"

"Being pregnant! I hate it!" her voice was getting high and hysterical. "Everyone is so judgmental, and they either treat me like I'm a whore or like I'm glass. I'm not just Kairi, I'm pregnant Kairi. That's the only thing they associate with me now. Even you. I know you don't want this baby, you've made that loud and clear by making it obvious that you don't want anything to do with it. I'm all alone in this. You may be right in front of me, but you're still not here!" She looked down, sounding visibly defeated. "Sometimes, you give me hope, like you'll suddenly care about the baby, not just care that you girlfriend is pregnant and more vulnerable so you have to protect her. Then that hope just goes away. It'd almost be better if you didn't try at all." She was still very slightly proud of herself for not crying, settling on fuming instead.

Sora wasn't quite sure what to feel. He was insulted and a bit angry, but more than anything, he was scared, ashamed and guilty. He knew that her words were true, and that, though he never spoke his feelings out loud, she knew what he thought about their situation. He was stupid to think that it didn't bother her. For a moment, he considered her words, knowing that she'd be happy with the baby even if he wasn't there, he knew that from his dreams, but then something else came to mind. Newly remerging memories rushed to him of a little boy asking his older brother why they didn't have a daddy, if it was because he didn't like them, and this boy trying to explain that no, that wasn't the case at all.

He never understood why their father wasn't around, but Raiden Hikari died trying to protect them, he died with a dying Roxas in his arms. That was honourable and understandable. Here, Kairi was basically telling him to go, to leave her alone if he wasn't at least going to try. What would she tell the child when it got older and asked why it's daddy wasn't around? There was no heroism in being a coward, not like how his father left them. He could still try.

Sora shook his head at his own thought. No, the time for trying was done. Somehow, the past five months (though it was really only three since he found out) shot right by, she was a little over half-way through her pregnancy. Now wasn't the time for trying, now he needed to prove that he was either in all the way or out completely.

Oddly enough, he found that it wasn't hard to choose. He would have been so conflicted about the idea if anyone asked him just a little while ago. Now though, the answer came to him immediately.

She sat down while he was thinking, staring down at her hands. He sat beside her, moving one around around her waist, his other hand resting on her stomach. She looked up at him with surprised indigo eyes, and he was proud to see that she fought off any tears. "We can make an appointment to find out if it's a boy or a girl, right? If you want to find out, I'll go with you."

Kairi's eyes went wide, understanding his words. A huge smile appeared on her face, and she threw her arms around him the best that she could. Still, she needed to clarify something for you. "I don't want you to...be here because you feel obligated to be."

"I'm not. I'm here with you because I want to be."

She didn't need to redo any of her makeup, because anyone who saw her for the rest of the night could only say how radiant and happy that she seemed. Kairi couldn't remember the last time she felt so elated about something.

"Sora?"

They both looked up as they heard Lea's almost desperate voice from behind the door. Sora got up, pulling it open to see the older man staring at him. "Roxas is missing."

There was a pause before Sora laughed loudly and said, "I thought you said Roxas is missing. You're such a joker." No one laughed though, and he felt his heart sink. "Are you sure he didn't just get lost again?"

"I'm sure. He was freaking right out earlier, and now he's just gone."

Sora shook his head. He looked around at Kairi, who was staring in horror, before looking and Lea and asking, "Does anyone else know?"

"No. I came straight here when I realized he was gone," Lea admitted.

"Okay, nobody is going to know this. Kairi, go and help Naminé with whatever she needs. I know she's being a bridezilla, but you need to be with her. Do not tell her anything about this. I'll get Roxas. We'll be back before the ceremony starts."

"You sure?" she asked.

"Positive." Sora winked at her. "You know that I can find him without really looking when I need to. Besides," his expression softened, "I know what it's like trying to pretend you're okay with something when, deep down, you're not. He needs to make a choice, now, because there's no more time for just pretending."

She nodded, understanding. "I'll go help Naminé." She turned to Lea. "I don't suppose you'd escort me? Don't want the pregnant person to trip and fall over her heels, right?"

Lea held his arm out to her dramatically, and she took it. "Don't be long Sora, I may just charm your girl away from you."

"I highly doubt that." Still, Sora was going to hurry anyway. If he could decide that he was going to be a dad, and not just a biological father, then Roxas could decide if he was going to be a husband or not.

**VVVVV**

Naminé was actually relieved when Kairi came back, especially when she seemed quite a bit happier than before, practically glowing as she helped with last minute preparations, though Minnie and Daisy were taking the lead with that. All in all, the reception hall looked fantastic, the festival that was happening outside seemed amazing from where she was, and the other large ballroom that was set up with comfortable chairs for the wedding itself. Neither Roxas nor Naminé took the idea of a spiritual or religious ceremony seriously, so there wasn't going to be anything about Destiny Island's gods, or anything like that. Why would they, when it clearly wasn't a deity that kept that would together, but a normal person channeling a lot of power from Kingdom Hearts?

Now she was feeling nervous as she tapped her foot impatiently, watching the seconds tick by like hours.

"Stop being nervous," Kairi said, "you'll be fine. You love Roxas, he loves you, and that is what's important, right?"

"Yes," she agreed, "but it doesn't really help. I know I've been planning this for a few months, but I'm still too young for this. We're all too young for all of this."

Kairi smiled softly at her and said, "We were too young four years ago, but that didn't stop something from putting the weight of the world on our shoulders." Her smile vanished and a look of confusion appeared on her face as she put her hand over her baby bump. "Oh."

"Are you okay?" Despite her bitter words earlier, Naminé knew that Kairi was trying to go out of her way so that people wouldn't pay her any mind, not that day. So she knew Kairi wasn't trying to draw attention to herself.

"I'm okay," she nodded her head, brow furrowing. "I just...I felt it moving. I've been feeling it for a little while now, but that was the first time it ever really gave me a good boot."

"The baby kicked?" she asked, eyes going wide.

"Harder than it has before, but not enough to feel it outside yet," Kairi admitted. "It just feels strange. Baby, please be nice to your auntie Nami and don't kick my bladder during the wedding, please?"

Midori, who stayed silent during the exchange, chuckled a bit at that. She looked around and saw Minnie walking towards them. "Your majesty."

Minnie smiled at her and nodded before looking at Naminé. "We're almost ready. You can go into the entry way. We're making sure Roxas doesn't slip away and go down there."

"Good," she breathed out, looking at her cousin and friend. "No choice now, right?"

"There's always a choice," Kairi said seriously. "There's always one until you actually say yes or no." Kairi wasn't actually referring to Naminé, she was referring to Roxas, but she wasn't about to tell her cousin that. She was still waiting for Sora's signal that everything was okay, though time was running out.

Where was he with Roxas?

**VVVVV**

Roxas didn't say a word when he felt his brother's presence, and was glad when Sora didn't say anything either as he hopped up beside him on the paopu tree. The twins just sat there, staring out at the ocean that seemed a little more vast now, just knowing that the ocean where they swam as merpeople to look for the gateway to Twilight's Destiny was now combined with the one that they'd known for a long time.

They both just sat there in silence, ties loose and a few buttons undone of their dress-shirts, enjoying the warm breeze that gently blew past them.

"I'm going to be a dad."

Roxas looked up at his brother oddly. He tilted his head a bit, seeing that Sora was completely serious, and said, "Congrats, but I think you're five months late on that realization."

"No," Sora shook his head. "I always knew that I would be a father, that it was biologically my kid. I just...Kairi laid it all out, she said either actually help and be involved, or to leave her alone. Well, she didn't say it like that, but it was implied. You know more than anyone how much I've been freaked out about this whole thing. I still have those horrible dreams, but now that I can remember Ventus, that I can remember asking why dad wasn't there and feeling so hurt at even the idea that it was my fault, because that's what I thought. I just...she gave me the choice, and it wasn't hard to choose. I don't know why, but it wasn't. So I'm not just going to be a father, I'm going to be an actual dad to this kid. So now you have to choose. Are you going to be a husband, or not?"

Roxas shifted and sighed. "I've been okay with this since the beginning. Even last week, I was okay with this. But since yesterday, I've just been...I don't know. Freaking out. This is a forever type thing, and I love Naminé, but...this is still a lot."

"I know." Sora didn't offer anything beyond that. He proposed to Kairi before he knew he'd have to marry her, he wasn't really thrown into a commitment that way. It was different for Roxas though. He agreed to this without truly thinking about it, Sora knew that, because he would have done the same thing if their situations were switched. He would never let Kairi marry someone else, but he would be nervous about the whole thing.

The blond sighed and ran his hands through his hair, messing it a bit. "I'll do it, of course I'll do it. There's no question about that. I just...I just feel so bad, because I realized that this is all out of obligation. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Naminé, but that's what this is."

"It is," Sora agreed. "We all know it is. If I didn't have some sort of weird connection to Kingdom Hearts and the people didn't have to deal with me, like it or lump it, I'd have to do the same." He was silent for a moment, brow furrowing. "You know, you could always have a second wedding later on, like renewing your vows? That one could be for love. This one is just a formality."

Roxas thought about that for a moment, brightening up a bit. "Yeah, I never thought about that. I guess we could do that." His expression brightened even more. "Thanks bro."

"Don't thank me yet," Sora said, "we're going to be late."

They looked at one another, Roxas with horror and Sora with amusement. The blond calmed himself before suggesting, "Corridor of Light?"

"Abusing mass power just to make it to a wedding on time?" Sora asked teasingly.

"It's Naminé, man. She will murder our brains," Roxas pointed out.

Sora thought about that for a moment before nodding his head. "Good point." He concentrated, imagining the room where the groomsmen were told to gather just beside the hall. A second later, a brightly lit portal appeared in front of them. "Well brother, am I going to walk you down the isle and give you away to your new keeper? You're totally the girl in this situation."

"Haha, funny. Lets go."

**VVVVV**

Yen Sid was the one actually marrying them, and even though Roxas and Sora had yet to show up, he still remained impassive, his eyes looking silently from one person to the next. Though he didn't say it, the ancient sorcerer felt like these Keyblade Bearers really needed small moments like this, where they could forget about the real problems in the universe.

He knew that there would be no honeymoon, no time to rest and relax. There were things that they needed to do, things that couldn't be ignored. Though he stayed silent, in the shadows while they gathered their allies, Yen Sid knew that Master Xehanort was simply biding his time, waiting for something.

Roxas, Sora and Riku appeared together, Riku looking highly relieved about something, and the other two a bit out of breath. Yen Sid's eyes lingered on Sora. He had a pretty good feeling he knew what Xehanort was waiting for, but today was not the day to bring up bad things. It was a day of joy.

Roxas started fidgeting when the music began and the girls began walking down the isle. Sora nudged him a bit, grinning slightly, before turning his attention back to them. He saw Kairi dressed up earlier, but even though she was only the maid of honour, she still took his breathe away. Midori looked pretty good too, he had to admit that, and from a glance at Riku, he could tell that the older boy agreed.

When Kairi reached the front, her eyes locked onto his for a moment before she glanced meaningfully at Roxas. Sora just gave her a smile and a subtle smile, indicating that everything was okay.

Roxas watched as Naminé confidently walked down the isle on her own, slightly surprised but very impressed with her appearance. He thought girls went crazy for huge, poofy dresses on their wedding day, but Naminé's was simple and straight, going down to the floor and somehow making her look taller than she actually was, with a golden sash just under her chest. Her hair was up, and she was wearing makeup, something that he never witnessed before.

He heard Sora jokingly, and very quietly, whistle beside him, and couldn't help but let out a small snicker.

Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

**VVVVV**

The wedding itself went off without a hitch. They all expected something dramatic to happen, and all Keyblade Bearers were ready to jump up at a moment's notice to help out, should they need to. Luckily for them, it seemed that the universe gave them a break for once.

Now though, Kairi had to restrain herself from going over to the dessert bar and eating everything that was there. It was calling to her as she sat at Sora's side, waiting for the newlyweds to show up. They, Riku and Midori escaped the photo shoot after Naminé deemed that they had an adequate amount, but also because Kairi's ankles were getting sore from standing for so long. Naminé knew that Kairi was trying hard not to complain or to draw attention away from the bride and to the pregnant girl, so she let her and Sora leave after getting just enough photos with nothing more than a smile.

Now, Kairi wished that she just stayed there. The universe was taunting her, or at least, the desserts were.

"It was a lovely wedding," her mother said as she took a seat beside her, her voice slightly airy. "I never imagined it would happen so soon though."

"I thought it would be me first," Kairi admitted, "but I'm happy for Naminé. After everything, she and Roxas truly deserve to be happy. They got their second shot at life, where in most cases it just would have been the tragic loss of children." She looked down at her hand, rubbing the engagement ring on her finger.

Suzu followed her daughter's gaze, landing on the beautiful ring, and asked, "I'm surprised you're not getting married, given the situation."

"That's just it, the situation," Kairi said with a shake of her head. "Mom, we told you what happened, what everyone thinks it's likely. We had no choice in conceiving this child, I'm sure even if we had abstained, Xehanort probably would have found some way to manipulate us into jumping each other anyway. We're not even sure how this happened, but odds are it was his fault. Everything is just happening too perfectly, too quickly. And Sora…" She trailed off, turning her eyes to the young man in question, who was talking to Riku and Lea animatedly. "He has no choices either anymore. He doesn't want to be king, but he needs to be. It's stupid, couldn't he just live on this world? Just because he's keeping it alive doesn't mean he wants or needs to rule it." She sighed and shook her head. "We want to get married because we want to, not because we have to. Every step of it is going to be when we want, and how we want." She rested her hand on her stomach. "At least we get to choose that."

Suzu slowly nodded her head, a small smile appearing on her face as she brushed a stray strand of hair away from her daughter's face. "I can respect that, sweetie."

Midori seemed to appear out of nowhere, her bright brown eyes darting to the door as she said, "They're coming."

"That means we get to eat soon!" Kairi sighed happily.

Midori gave Kairi's mother an amused look before saying, "That kid is going to have Sora's appetite, isn't she?"

"She will not," Kairi argued with a wave of her hand. "She'll eat like me."

"Which is even worse," the raven-haired girl shook her head, amusement visible on her face as Kairi glared at her.

"She?" Suzu asked, sounding very intrigued.

"We don't actually know," Kairi admitted, "I've just taken to saying 'she'. Most of us have. Except for Roxas."

"Well, you do seem to be carrying the baby higher, which, according to old wive's tales, means that it'll be a girl," the woman noted.

Kairi made a face at her, clearly not believing that for a minute. It didn't matter how she carried the baby or how big it got, or anything like that, she just honestly thought it was a girl.

Her attention shifted when Sora came to her side, holding his arm out to her. The two of them, plus Riku and Midori, were supposed to wait at the head table for Roxas and Naminé to come in. She looped her arm through his, leaning on him slightly as they made their way up to the head table, inexpressibly excited at the prospect of eating soon. She didn't even want anything weird, she just wanted everything.

When Roxas and Naminé came through the door, she had to do a double take and then laugh loudly. At some point of time, they stopped to get ice cream, both coming in with sticks of sea-salt ice cream, and for some reason, Roxas was wearing sunglasses that made him look like a bug. Kairi was surprised that Naminé didn't tear him apart for it.

She shook her head, smiling when Naminé caught her eye and smile brightly. As long as Naminé was happy, it didn't matter how strange the events turned out to be. They did promise to be strange and interesting though, if the amount of alcohol (that she couldn't consume) present, and Lea's lighter, had anything to say about it.

**VVVVV**

"I think they have a hangover."

Riku let out a pained groan and looked up from the kitchen table where he was practically hugging a massive mug of black coffee. Sora's amused eyes took him in, and Riku thought of throwing his coffee at his friend, but that would involve losing the bitter drink, and he wasn't about to do that.

"Have fun last night?" Kairi's cheerful voice almost echoed in his ear as she poured herself a glass of water, a smirk visible on her face.

"I don't even remember what happened last night," Riku admitted. "Not after Lea challenged me to that drinking contest, at least."

"At least you were able to hold back from making a fool out of yourself until Roxas and Naminé had their first dance," Kairi pointed out. "Hayner was trashed before that. Pence got it all on video apparently, including you making out with the really hot girl. Or so he says."

"What?" That was news to him. He looked over at Midori, who sat at the table silently, her head resting in her arms, her coffee in front of her. He reached out to poke her to see if she was still awake, but her head shot up, black hair flying everywhere as one hand smacked him away and the other grabbed the mug in front of her.

"Mine."

Kairi giggled at them and asked, "You really don't remember much, do you?"

"No," Riku admitted, "but what was this about making out with some girl?"

"Emiliana," Sora informed him.

Midori's head shot up once again, having rested on the table, and she cast a glare at Riku. He just shrugged at her.

"Where are you two off to anyway?" Riku asked them, noticing that they were completely ready for the day.

"Out for a little bit," Kairi said. "We'll be leaving in a few days again, so there are some things we need to take care of."

"You're coming with us?" Midori asked skeptically. "Should you, you know, be avoiding stress?"

"You think staying here will stop me from being stressed?" the redhead asked slowly. "I'll be worried every minute of every day. We made a compromise, and I won't leave the ship unless it's necessary."

"Max will make sure of it," Sora added, having already spoken to him. Max was all too happy to learn that Sora wanted him to continue traveling with them, and agreed to take on the role as a bit of a guardian for Kairi.

"We have to get going," Kairi said, taking Sora's hand into her own. "Don't want to be late."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Seriously guys, find Pence and that video. It's hilarious. I think I saw him in the living room on the second floor with Hayner, Olette, Selphie, Tidus and Wakka. Midi, you did some awesome breakdancing in that dress." Kairi tugged at Sora's arm, and he waved at them as they left.

"Since when can you breakdance?" Riku asked curiously, green eyes focusing on the girl across from him.

"I can't," she answered, sounding just as perplexed as him. They really needed to hunt the others down.

**VVVVV**

Kairi's mother was waiting for them at the doctor's office, looking slightly impatient. When she saw them coming though, she smiled and gave her daughter a hug. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm just fine. It's everyone else who has horrible hangovers," she replied with a grin, glancing up at the doctor's office. "Are you sure that Dr. Itsuki can fit us in today?"

"Of course, he was more than happy to," Suzu nodded as she led them inside. "Actually, he was originally the family doctor for the royal family. He was there when you and Roxas were born, Sora. I think it was someone else with Ventus though."

"Huh," Sora said, a thoughtful tone to his voice. "I wonder if he'd consider being Kairi's primary doctor for this? I can make the castle look like whatever it needs to, so if I tell it to look like whatever he needs, the doctor would have anything."

"That was what your grandfather did for me and the physicians before me," Dr. Itsuki said, startling them all. "Sorry about that, there aren't many people scheduled for today because of yesterday. You're just on time." He led the three of them into an examination room.

"I brought this," Sora said, holding out a binder in his hand. "Queen Minnie made it for her. Well, we all have one. Medical charts I think."

Dr. Itsuki flipped through the book, stopping to look at the more recent pages. He nodded his head after a few minutes and said, "Alright, it looks like everything was fine last time. It's been a while though, hasn't it?"

"Yes," Kairi nodded, "but a Greek Goddess put protective magic basically around the baby, so I'm not sure if that's going to show up or not."

"We meet...different people," Sora said when they all looked at him curiously.

"Alright, we need to check on your weight, and then you can get up." Kairi was a bit self-conscious about that, knowing that Hera's spell was making her gain a little more weight than normal. She explained this to him, and he accepted the answer. She wasn't that over what she should have been anyway. After that, Sora helped her onto the examination bed.

"Okay, lets see." He put something to Kairi's belly, playing with a few machines, and suddenly a thumping sound was heard in the room.

Sora's mouth fell open and his eyes went wide as he looked at Kairi. "Is that it's heart?"

"Yes, it is," Itsuki nodded his head. "It sounds like everything's in order with the little one. Tell me, Kairi, what symptoms have you been experiencing lately?"

"Huh?" She spaced out a bit when she heard the baby's heartbeat, noting that her mother was crying a bit. "Oh, well...is it normal to feel a bit itchy?" She pointed at her stomach. "My skin."

"Yes, that's fairly common," he nodded his head. "It's because your skin is stretching."

She frowned at the thought of stretch lines and said, "Oh. Well, I've been getting a few leg cramps and headaches, but nothing too bad. My mood swings are starting to happen less." Sora shot her a skeptical look. "They are, I swear! I really like to eat, and I always feel like jumping him." She nodded to Sora, who blushed violently. "What? It's not like she got in here with magic."

Doctor Itsuki laughed at them. "That all sounds normal to me. In fact, you seem to be avoiding a lot of the more negative symptoms, but that could also be from the spell to protect you. Now, I have a big question for you. Do you want to know the gender of your baby?"

Sora was about to answer yes, as was Suzu, but Kairi's eyes went wide and she suddenly said, "No! I mean...can we still see the baby while keeping it a surprise?" She looked up at the other two. "I really want to wait. I don't know why."

"If that's what you want," Sora answered with a shrug.

She nodded her head. After cold jelly was put on her exposed stomach, a grainy image appeared, and she smiled broadly. It really did look like a baby now.

"They should have a normal sleep and awake cycle now, you'll probably notice that. As well, the ears are developed, so the baby will be able to hear you and your heartbeat." He kept talking, but while Kairi hung on to every word that the doctor said, Sora's eyes stayed locked on the image, slightly startled by the fact that it was an actual little person. A person who would be awake and asleep and could hear him.

He squeezed Kairi's hand, his eyes still on the screen. It was really a baby. He knew that, of course, but actually seeing it was something completely different because it actually looked like a baby.

The rest of her appointment seemed to fly by for him, because he was in a state of stunned shock the entire time.

Suzu was speaking to Doctor Itsuki about something while Kairi finished wiping gel off of her belly and fixing her shirt. Sora helped her off of the table, and she looked up at him with a smile. "Well?"

"It's a baby."

Kairi rolled her eyes and patted his head like he was a dog that did a clever trick. "No, I thought I was growing a watermelon." She looked up at his hair. "Or a hedgehog."

Sora laughed and pulled her into a hug, a familiar smile that she hadn't seen for such a long time on his face. That alone made her smile, because, even if it was just for brief moments or in private, it told her that her Sora was back.

**VVVVV**

**Author's Note**

Forgive me for not updating as quickly as I used to. If you haven't noticed, these chapters are at least two times longer than what I used to write. It means more time working on a single chapter.

Now, one thing some keeners may have noticed in this chapter is that I've been toying with small details like names. You may be thinking "ERROR! YOU'VE MADE IT CLEAR THAT KAIRI'S LAST NAME WAS KOKORO', and yes, I did, you're not crazy. However, I decided to change that to actually show that she's different from Sora and Riku. Judging from the Final Fantasy characters, English names or words wouldn't be uncommon there, so it felt fitting to give Kairi and Naminé names like that. Midori's name also changed, but from Japanese to Latin. When I go back around and edit typos and stuff (I'm starting at the beginning again to do that, no, not another rewrite, just some cleanup that I'm getting help with), I'll change the names.

Too long, did not read: Radiant Garden, surnames tend to be English (not all the time...Yuffie), Destiny Islands: Japanese, Forbidden World: Latin.

Yes, I know their first names are still all Japanese. My answer to that: deal with it (sunglasses).

To keep you up to date, their names are: Sora Hikari, Riku Keimei, Kairi Corwyn, Roxas Hikari, Naminé Rosemary (or was, before she married Roxas, so its Hikari now), and Midori Noctis.

For anyone curious, Corwyn (or Corwin) can mean friend of the heart, Rosemary is a flower that symbolizes remembrance, and Noctis means 'of the night'. The only other character that has a last name is Emiliana, which is Proditio.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed: Q-A the Authoress, KHLostEmpress, Nytox, The 666th necrophiliac, EvilxLittlexNinja, Legionary Prime and SilverPaopu. You guys are awesome.

Another thing, I know about a year ago I tried to start up a blog, just for random things that come to mind, but that didn't really go anywhere because I got distracted by shiny things (not really, but that actually does happen...I'm like a bird that way). So I decided to set up another one. The link to it is at the bottom of my profile. What I'll be doing there is going into longer, detailed explanations of things, be it personal information, character information, character designs, things about my stories or whatever else I'm making, or anything that anyone else wants to know. It's a lot easier than having long author's notes.

So, if you're curious about anything at all, be it characters in these fics, things about one-shots, or just anything at all, don't hesitate to ask. Sometimes I may even drop hints towards where this is going that I wouldn't in an author's note. Gives people the option of if they want to know or not.

Okay, I don't think I have anything else to say for now. I'd appreciate any sort of feedback though. Oh, and in the next chapter, we're off to a new world!

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


	27. For A Moment

**Shadows of Reality: Final Mix**

_Chapter Twenty-Six – For A Moment_

"Are you sure this is what you want, Mickey?" Sora asked the mouse, hesitation in his voice. Everyone was leaving that day, Queen Minnie and Daisy taking all of the servants and people that they brought with them back to Disney, and Sora continuing his journey to round up the Keyblade Bearers before the oddly quiet Xehanort did something horrible. It set him on edge, having such a subtle and skilled enemy. Even when it was Ansem, Xemnas, Maleficient or even Crysita, all of them paved the road to their goals with pure destruction and horror. That wasn't the case with Xehanort. Most of the time it seemed utterly pointless to take anyone else away from their homes, but it had to be done. They had to be trained at some point of time.

"Yes," Mickey said with a nod. "The council is here to help run the world while you're gone, so you don't have to worry about that. I will be present at the meetings to make sure that they don't try to go above your head for anything, though I doubt they will. In the mean time, Yen Sid is going to take charge in training Mulan, Peter Pan, Hercules, Stitch, Aladdin and Emiliana, and I'll would step in to help from time to time. Lea, Ienzo, Donald and Goofy will be around to help as well. We'll be fine."

Sora slowly nodded his head and said, "I wish Kairi would stay here to help you, but I've tried. She's so stubborn. She won't even be coming down to most worlds with us."

"She just worries about you, Sora," Mickey told him with a smile. "I traveled around even more before I married Minnie, and she aways worried a lot. In a way, it might have been easier for her to actually be with me, but she had a world to run." He smiled slightly. "Did you know that she's the one who's actually royalty, not me?"

"Huh?"

"Yeah. I mean, Walt, my adoptive father did create Disney Castle itself, but he didn't actually adopt me until just before he died so that no one else like Pete could try and swoop in to take over. He took care of us since we were only young, but Minnie was actually born to royalty. Pete's cousin was the Captain of the guard there, and Donald, Goofy and I disguised ourselves as Musketeers to save her. That was in another part of Disney."

"I didn't know that," Sora admitted. "I actually don't know that much about you, Donald, or Goofy, when I think about it. I had no idea that Goofy had a son until I met Max before. I don't know much about your pasts or how Pete fits into it or anything like that."

Mickey patted his arm and said, "There'll be time for that later. The past is unchanging, and we can look it over when we have the time. The future is always in motion though, and that's what we need to be prepared for now."

"If I went back and told my fourteen-year-old self that the best advice he was ever going to get came from a giant mouse, I'd probably send myself to the crazy house."

Mickey laughed again and shook his head. "The gummi ship is probably finished being stocked. Chip and Dale wanted to talk to you and a few others before you left too. You should probably go check with them and then round everyone up."

Sora nodded his head, leaving to go find everyone else.

**vvvvv**

Roxas' eyes were unfocused as he stared out over Twilight Town, his legs dangling over the edge of the clock tower on the train station. It was so odd to see the islands in the distance, and the castle itself stood out in a sheer contrast of his memory of this place. It was all different now. Everything was different. He glanced down at his own hand where, instead of his white and black rings, there was a single wedding band. Yeah, a lot changed, and he hoped it was for the better, but he couldn't be sure.

"There you are," Lea's voice said from behind him, and Roxas looked around to see the older man sit down beside him, looking out at the world along with him. "It's been a while since we've been up here like this, hasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"The others are looking for you, saying that it's time to go. Sora told me to look here for you."

Roxas smiled a bit at that. "He probably knew I was here. We can still feel each other if we try. If he wanted to get a hold of me himself, we can speak through our minds, kind of like we could communicate when we were still both in his heart. I could come out and talk to him, or just speak into his mind."

"So why'd he send me up here?"

"Why wouldn't he? Sora has my memories, I have his," he shrugged. "He knows what this place meant to me, and to all of us." He frowned slightly. "Us and Crysita, that's who used to sit up here, right?"

"Huh?"

"There was someone else with us," Roxas told him. "Midori's Nobody...well sort of Nobody, was Crysita. She was the fourteenth member of the Organization. It had to be her up here, right?"

Lea stared at him with confused green eyes before shrugging and saying, "Must have. I can't see who else it could have been. Memories are strange things, especially when they can be manipulated so easily by some people." He paused. "Did you know I was friends with Ven too?"

"You were?" that honestly seemed to surprise Roxas.

"Yeah. I met him in Radiant Garden, that's where I'm from. Isa and I were friends there. It was only briefly, and he kicked my butt, but I decided that we were friends."

Roxas was silent for a moment before saying, "Maybe that's why you let me stick with you so much at first. You didn't seem all that happy about it, but you still did."

"It's just strange that you look and even sound exactly like him. Like a broody, moody version of him. You'd think you'd look like Sora," Lea said thoughtfully.

Roxas and Sora had a solid theory on why that happened. They were both almost positively sure that Ventus' heart, maybe only a small piece, or maybe all of it, had taken refuge Sora's heart after he died. The theory was that, when Sora released his and Kairi's hearts to save her, that Ventus' heart fled into the body that was created for Roxas, hence why he took on that physical appearance. He wasn't Ventus, but he had been the holder of his heart for nearly a year. That was something that they were keeping between themselves for a while, but he knew that he could trust Lea.

"His heart is still here," Roxas said suddenly. "Ven's."

"What do you mean? He died, didn't he?"

"Yeah, his body did die, but the theory Sora and I have is that his heart fled just before his physical body died."

"Fled? Fled where?"

This made Roxas smile. "Into Sora's heart. Then when I was created as his Nobody, it came with me. That's why I look like him. I look like I do now, because I saw myself as how everyone remembered me, and Naminé looked like she did because that was how everyone remembered her, and that's where our physical appearances came from when we got our own bodies."

"So, Ven's heart is in Sora?"

"We think so."

Lea looked up at the sky. "Wow. So he's not really completely gone then, is he?"

They'd both thought about that before, but neither really had an answer. Roxas just shrugged before saying, "I should probably get going. Wouldn't want to put up behind on our missions anymore than normal."

"Yeah. I have to help whoop those other Keyblade Bearers into shape too."

They both took one last glance at the world beyond the clock tower before making their way inside to walk down.

**vvvvv**

Sora's cerulean blue eyes stared intently at the controls in front of him. This gummi ship was more up-to-date than the one that they were using before, luckily fixing the problem of having the warp gummi block somewhere it could be easily destroyed, something that happened to them so much that it wasn't even funny as a running joke anymore. It was more like the universe needed an excuse to say a lot of time passed between chapters of his life. Or something like that.

Max and Midori were both with him, each looking over the new, highly advanced technology before them. Max was going to be the primary pilot, though a majority of his time would be spent monitoring everything else since the autopilot was supposed to be the best of the best. There was always a chance that emergencies could come up that needed an actual pilot though, and having only one person who knew how to use the new ship was a stupid idea, so Sora and Midori were learning everything about it too, just in case.

Chip jumped up onto the controls and pointing at a gauge beneath him. "This one is one you're going to want to pay attention to, Sora. At least before going to worlds."

"Okay, why?" he asked curiously.

"All worlds have magic in them," Chip explained to him, "you know that. You also know that too much, or the wrong kind, of magic can really hurt Kairi and the baby. So we put this in here for her specifically."

"It reads the magical levels of a world before you get there," Dale said. "That way you'll know if it's safe for her to go down to the world or not."

"Really?"

"Yup," Chip agreed. "That's not all it does. See this one here?" He pointed to a digital display. "This one reads the amount of darkness in a world, so you should be able to estimate how strong the enemies are there. It'll display a number. If it's about 25 or under, then she'll be fine to go. 25 to 50, she'll probably be okay but there will be more enemies. Anything over 50 means trouble, and if it's a hundred...well I'd only send down the most experienced people you have."

"This one is the one that reads general magic, like we mentioned earlier" Dale said, pointing at the one beside Chip. "It's easier to read. If it's green, it means that it's okay. Her clothes or a costume may change, but she'll be fine. Yellow means she should only go there in emergencies, and red...well...you should probably keep her away from that world."

"Right. For example, a red world would be Atlantica. Too much physically changes there. A green world would be Radiant Garden, and a yellow one would be Halloween Town."

"But we change in Halloween Town," Sora pointed out. "Quite a bit. Donald even loses his stomach, and I mean that literally."

"Mickey told us about that world," Dale said. "He knows you have to go there, and he said something about how Kairi may want to go to Christmas Town? I don't know. He said that it's a special world because...umm...because..."

"You big dummy!" Chip scolded his brother. "It's because Halloween Town and Christmas Town have very strong connections to both life and death. When the heart of the world changes a person, it takes their own magical powers, auras and physical changes into mind. That's why a costume can change while going there. The baby will be taken into consideration, especially in Christmas Town where children are so important."

"Wow," Midori said in awe, "Mickey really looked into that one, didn't he? I wonder why."

Sora knew why. He knew that Kairi would want to go and see Mrs. Claus and Santa again to show them that she was okay. That was the world Sora took her to immediately after she was tortured and raped, where she stabbed herself badly enough where the scarring left behind in her womb was going to be something to really watch out for when it came time for the baby to be born. The place where Jorix took her didn't exist any longer, but Christmas Town was the place where she woke up after it all, where she broke down.

They talked about it only a few days ago when she saw Sora planning out where they were going to be heading. She wanted to go there for real closure, preferably before the baby was born. Kairi insisted that she needed it, and maybe, to a lesser extent, he did too.

Max looked up from the controls and asked, "So, are we heading out soon?"

"Yup," Sora clapped him on the back "Glad you're coming with us. You're a better pilot than even I am."

"My dad taught me. For such a goof, he's pretty good," Max shrugged. "That and I just did the opposite of what Donald did."

Midori snorted with amusement at that.

Sora chuckled and shook his head. "I'm going to make sure everyone who's coming is ready. Oh, right...there's something else I forgot too." He quickly ran off, leaving behind four slightly amused beings.

"Well, we better get going too," Chip told Max and Midori.

"Yeah. Wouldn't want Queen Minnie to leave without us."

"Right," Midori nodded her head. "We have the communication number if we need to reach you guys."

"Good luck!" The two chipmunks chorused before they left through the same door Sora had moments before.

**vvvvv**

"Master Yen Sid!"

The old wizard looked up from the place he had taken up as his own personal study, surrounded by more books than he could imagine. While, at times, the old man found himself longing to return to his own home just a little (most powerful sorcerer in the worlds, and former Keyblade Master or not, he was still human), he quite enjoyed the vast amount of knowledge held within the castle. He knew that he could be of more help where he was at the current time as well.

"Sora, come in."

Sora walked in, always the casual one, though he did know how to act respectful around others. There was no big smile playing on his lips today though, instead he looked rather serious. "Master, I was wondering about Riku and Roxas."

"Ah, yes, I was curious if you'd come to question me about your friend's progress."

Sora nodded his head. "I just...I guess I'm a bit worried that I'm doing too much and not giving them a chance. I'm just so used to going on this crazy missions either alone, or the one that's kind of in charge. They're being tested though, not me. I just feel like...if I back off a bit, everyone will think I'm slacking off."

"It is a dilemma, isn't it? Especially in your situation," Yen Sid folded his hands together on the desk. "That is part of your own test."

"Huh?"

"You may be a Master by birth, but there is much you need to know. This has been a test for you as much as everyone else. A test as the leader you always have been, but are now being forced to be on a greater level. Your test will be balancing your duties to one world with your duties to all worlds, and your duties to your family. It is not something I would have wished onto someone your age, but destiny has a way of giving us more than it seems we can handle."

Sora looked down at that, before a look of realization passed over his face. "You're not the one judging Riku and Roxas. I am, aren't I?"

"I've been watching, listening to the hearts of the worlds," Yen Sid said with a nod. "But yes, it is you. It is a duty of a Master to know when an apprentice is ready or not." There was a pause. "Do you think they're ready, yet?"

Sora thought about how Roxas was a bit distracted and flighty, especially after his wedding, while Riku had locked himself in a drama with two young women. He sighed and shook his head, feeling a little bad, like he was the one holding them back. "If I had to judge though, I don't think I'd make myself a Master either though."

"In another time, another place, I might not have either," Yen Sid agreed, "that is out of both of our hands though. Do not dwell on what you cannot change."

Sora slowly nodded his head. "And you and Mickey are okay with training everyone else while we're gone?"

"I would prefer it," Yen Sid admitted. "With so many Keyblade Bearers appearing, it is slightly alarming. I would prefer to gauge their power myself." He paused for a moment, and if possible, looked slightly amused, if only for a split second. "Now, I believe a certain young lady is in need of your help with her mother right now."

He laughed a bit. "Yeah, they're probably arguing about her going again. Thank you, Master Yen Sid." He have a very quick bow before turning and rushing away from yet another person, since he seemed to be needed everywhere that morning.

Yen Sid watched him go before saying, "I hope that you were right, old friend, and that they can handle this."

"_Not alone,"_ a disembodied whisper said, _"but soon they will have the help they need. She is awakening as we speak."_

"Let us hope her guidance will be enough."

**vvvvv**

"I'll be fine, mother," Kairi snapped, gritting her teeth together as she glared at Suzu Yamada, who, like always, completely ignored her statement.

"You should not be going," the woman snapped back, equally as irritated. "I don't understand you. It's not the proper way of doing things."

"No, the proper way of doing things is laying down like a slob and being useless, isn't it?" she growled, cheeks turning red from anger. Kairi wasn't sure if she wanted to scream, cry, or slap the woman before her.

"You are pregnant, young lady! I know what's best for you, and you should not be going!"

"Stop talking to me like I'm five!" Kairi said, her voice becoming slightly shrill. "This is my baby! I'm not just some surrogate carrying yours! I'm not going to let her get hurt! It'll be worse for us here!"

"Yes, because you've gone through this before," Suzu replied sarcastically. "I'm sorry, I forgot that, at 18, you were all-knowing."

With narrowed indigo eyes, Kairi just folded her arms in front of her and said, "And you have gone through this?" It was a low blow, pointing out her adoptive mother's infertility, but she was in a spiteful mood. Ever since the woman found out she was pregnant, Kairi rarely had a moment to herself. She almost expected Sora to be a little smothering after he decided that he was all-in too, but that wasn't the case. He seemed to give her enough space to keep her happy, and maybe that had to do with the connection between their hearts. He would know if she was in any sort of danger or needed him, he didn't need to be at her side a hundred percent of the time. Her mother didn't get that though. She harped on her eating habits, her exercise, the time she slept, how she slept, even what she wore.

Yen Sid, using his magic, had given them all a gift that Sora had gotten long ago: armour to protect them. The piece on her arm took a bit to get used to, but she knew that, in the worse case scenario, she could use it to encase herself in armour that would mould to her body, taking everything, even her extended stomach, into account. There was also rather comfortable armour under her shirt that came out underneath it and above her skirt, moulding to the shape of her stomach so it'd be comfortable. It was an added layer of protection, and she liked it.

Her mother thought it was ridiculous and demanded that she take it off. She pointed out that Naminé, suddenly perfect Naminé who couldn't so a wrong, didn't have any visible armour, and neither did Riku or Midori. Kairi just pointed out that Sora and Roxas did. It was a stupid fight, but her mother harped on her for everything. If she had it her way, Kairi would probably be wearing a moomoo, on permanent bed rest until the baby was born, and after that, her mother would probably take the baby as her own. That was the impression she got as Suzu made plans. She was getting so sick of hearing what her baby was going to be doing without having a say in it.

"Kairi?"

She felt relief as Sora came over to them, no doubt having felt her distress. She turned away from a glaring Suzu, curling as close to him as she could, and burying her forehead against his neck. Sora hugged her, looking up at Suzu almost warily. He knew how much her mother was driving her crazy lately, having heard all about it when she ranted at night.

"I can't believe you're letting her go!" the woman snapped. "It's dangerous."

"I'd rather have her with me," Sora admitted. "It's a bit selfish, yeah. But I also know that she'll go stir-crazy here. Don't you think that added stress and worry for long periods of time, because that's what she'll do, will be worse for her than staying on a stable, perfectly safe gummi ship with the most up-to-date shields and comfortable furniture, is? Given that the most powerful sorcerer around said it was perfectly safe for her." He could feel Kairi smiling against his skin. "I'm not going to let anything bad happen to her."

"I know you mean well, Sora, but you've made that promise, if only to yourself, before." She didn't say it, but there was a linger accusation in the air. The lingering 'smack' that echoed in the now silent room seemed to reverberate on forever, Kairi's hand held up still and a red mark appearing on her adoptive mother's cheek.

"Don't you ever," she shrieked, "ever accuse him of anything involving _that_ you...you..." She was shaking, she was literally that angry. "You are not having _anything_ to do with this baby or my family! So get out!"

"Kairi..." Sora said softly, but she shook her head violently. She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the gummi ship, causing everyone in their path to almost leap out of the way, not wanting to invoke her wrath. She pulled him up the ramp and into the room designed almost like the interior or an airplane, with large, comfortable seats that had seat-belts to keep them safe during take-off. She sat in one of them, pulling Sora into the one beside her as she folded her arms in front of her.

Max peered into the room from the bridge, which was just through the door. Midori, who was going to be with him during the first little while of flight, also looked out, but both (wisely) returned back into their seats in that room.

A little bit later, a rather rattled Riku, Roxas and Naminé appeared, all strapping themselves into their seats silently. When Kairi didn't move to do up her own, Sora got up and did it for her before sitting back down beside her and strapping himself in. "We're all good to go, Max."

"Alright! Lets go guys!"

They were all silent as the rather large gummi ship took off from Twilight's Destiny. The silence in the room was almost suffocating, and the second that Midori yelled at them that it was okay to get up and walk around, that they were stabilized, Roxas practically leapt out of his chair, gave Kairi a fearful look (out of the group, he usually did get the nasty end of her hormones fired at him), and rushed out of the room to check out the rest of the ship. Naminé just sighed and followed him while Riku moved into the bridge.

It took Sora a second to register the sniffle, and looked over to see Kairi in tears. He tried to spring up, only to realize that he was still buckled in, and quickly tried to undo himself while moving to her at the same time. It didn't work out all that well, and he ended up landing face-first on the floor.

Kairi let out a small giggle despite her tears, and he was glad that his pain accomplished something. Sora pushed himself up onto his knees in front of her and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I can't believe I did that," she said miserably. "I just—she's been driving me crazy and—and I've been having dreams that she was going to try and take the baby and I don't want that."

Sora sighed and unbuckled her from the seat while saying, "She wouldn't try to take him. She's just worried, that's all."

"Do you think she'll forgive me?"

"I think she will," he nodded. "It might take a little bit, but she will. Now calm down." He put his hand on her stomach that was protected by her armour and her clothing. She jerked up quickly, causing him to pull his hand back. "Are you okay?"

"She just kicked," Kairi said in awe.

"You said he's been doing that for a while," Sora pointed out.

"No, I meant kick, kick." She grabbed Sora's arm and pulled him out of the room, down the hall to where they were supposed to be staying. Once they were inside the room, she magically removed the metal off of her body like Yen Sid showed them how to, and then took Sora's hand and put it against her stomach. "Wait for it."

They were silent for a moment before he felt it. His eyes went wide with surprise as he felt the baby kick against his hand several times. He pulled his hand away in shock before guiding Kairi to the bed and making her sit down. Kairi watched with confusion as he pulled her shirt up above her belly, and then saw what he was looking at. They could see the baby kicking. "Okay, that's a bit freaky to see," she admitted.

"If I didn't know how they came out, I'd think it was trying to alien-explode out or something," Sora said with a laugh, and put his hand against her bare skin as it kicked again before stopping. He frowned. "Is something wrong with him?"

"No, she probably just got tired," Kairi said as she flopped back. "Where are we heading to first?"

"Atlantica," Sora explained. "We decided to start from the farthest and work our way in. It'll probably take about three days to get there. Not bad, considering it would have taken us at least a week, going as fast as we could in the other gummi ship. Why?"

"Just curious," she admitted. "I wish I knew which worlds I could go onto."

"We can know that though!" Sora said happily as he removed his own armour away, not wanting to accidentally hurt her with one of the edges as he moved up from where he had been kneeling on the floor the entire time to seeing beside her. "Chip and Dale put something in. It's pretty cool. We should even be able to get a reading on how dangerous a world is." His smile vanished just as quickly as it appeared.

"What's wrong?" Kairi asked him, frowning a bit.

"Well...there is one world I know you can go to, but I'm not...I know we talked about it, but do you want to go there?" Sora asked, hesitating slightly.

"It'd help if I knew where."

"Christmas Town. Well, technically Halloween Town, but if you want, Christmas Town too."

Kairi tensed up a bit at his words, going completely silent as she rubbed her stomach. She paused when she felt the baby kick again against her hand and slowly nodded her head. "I said before that I think I need it." She shifted her hand over her heart and added, "I think you do too."

"Maybe," he said before jumping up. "I'm going to find Riku. I'm putting him in charge of Atlantica since he was there more recently than we were."

"Really? Why?"

"He's gotta become a Master somehow," Sora said, knowing that, while Yen Sid had the ultimate say, the old wizard wouldn't say anything until he thought that his friend and brother were ready. "I'm going to give Roxas a chance in another world."

She slowly nodded her head and looked at the ceiling. "You think Naminé, Midori and I will ever get the chance? We're going to be so busy with other things soon, and I can't really show what I'm made of now, can I?"

"You'll get your chance," Sora assured her. "I promise you. Even if it means that you get to wander the worlds on your own and I have to stay home with him." He didn't sound very pleased at the prospect.

"Her," Kairi argued with a grin.

"I dunno, Roxas and I both agree on a him."

"And you're outnumbered, because everyone else says her. It's mother's intuition."

Sora just shook his head, an amused smile on his lips.

**vvvvv**

Sora was sure that it would have been a nightmare trying to sort out who was going to go to Atlantica and who was going to stay on the ship if everyone else was with them instead of back starting their training. As it was, a small team was less likely to draw any attention. Max told him that the magic level for Atlantica was incredibly high, but that didn't surprise him in the least. Their systems said that there didn't seem to be too much darkness on the world, but there was always the possibility of other things going wrong. He just prayed that Ursula was truly gone now, since his enemies that he defeated tended to come back with a vengeance.

"Okay," Sora said, looking at everyone else one at a time. "To keep things easy, only three of us are going to go down. That way we won't draw as much attention to ourselves, but worst case scenario, the others, except for Kairi, can come down. Riku, Naminé, you guys are coming down with me. Roxas, Midori, you two are going to stay here with Kairi and Max."

Midori eyed the world below them, taking note of how most of the surface was covered by a vast ocean. "I'm okay with that."

"I'm not," Roxas grumbled. "Why can't I go?"

"If you haven't noticed, we tend to split off, you with Naminé, me with Kairi, and Riku with Midori," Sora pointed out, "it makes complete sense, since you're married and Kairi's my girlfriend, but we have to learn to work in different groups. I know we've done it before, but still, we need to learn to work together with what we've got."

"Sora's probably right," Naminé agreed. "It's okay Roxas, we'll be fine."

"Right," Sora said with a nod. "Besides, you're taking the lead in the next world."

"I am?" Roxas asked with surprise.

"Yup," Sora nodded his head before turning to Riku. "Once we get down there, you're in charge, okay?"

"Sure," Riku said with a shrug. There was never an actual agreement that Sora was the boss, but it was always implied, since he had the most experience with the Keyblade. Riku figured that there was a reason Sora was backing off, and had the distinct feeling that it had something to do with Yen Sid watching both him and Roxas.

"If the rest of this things are right," Max piped up, motioning to the monitors around the room, "then we should be able to track you guys down there, so if something does go wrong, we'll know."

"It locks onto your magical signatures," Midori added from where she sat. "That also means that we might not be the only ones tracking you that way, so keep an eye out. Just because things aren't bad there, doesn't mean that it can't get worse."

"Alright, you guys ready to go?" Sora asked, looking at Riku and Naminé.

"Lets do this," Riku replied confidently, and Naminé nodded her head.

"Remember," Kairi said sternly, "you're getting Ariel, and coming back. None of this insane shenanigans I've heard of before."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sora said quickly.

"Yes, because playing annoy the shark is the best way to spend your time in the ocean," she deadpanned.

"Annoy the shark?" Riku mouthed to Sora as they moved over to the warp spot in the ship.

"Long story," he replied, "Naminé dug through my memories, she knows it. She can share sometime."

There was a flash of light, and all three of them were gone.

"So," Roxas said after a moment, looking around at everyone else. "What now?" He wasn't used to being stuck on the gummi ship with so few people, at least not while they were just idling in orbit.

Kairi's eye lit up and she said, "Lets play Apples to Apples!"

They all just stared at her until he said, "That's pretty much the most random thing ever."

"Are you kidding? I love that game!" she cried out. "We can even play it in here so we can keep an eye on everything. I'll be back!" She took off with a swiftness that Roxas didn't expect, but he didn't comment on it, instead choosing to sit down.

"What's Apples to Apples?" Max dared to ask.

"Basically word association with cards," Midori explained, looking quite eager to play. That wasn't surprising though, she took everything as a challenge.

Roxas just shook his head and said, "All the girls here are crazy, Max. Just accept it and move on."

The anthropomorphic dog just shrugged. As strange as these people were, he was glad that he was able to help like his father had for so many years.

**vvvvv**

"I'm a mermaid!" Naminé literally squealed with happiness, causing Sora to look up at her with mild alarm. It always took him a minute to get used to transformations, though he was usually the first to snap out of a daze since he was used to it more than the others. Right now though, Naminé was gliding through the water gleefully, her white fin standing out in the water along with the blue clam-shells covering her chest.

"How did you learn how to swim so quickly?" he asked with confusion as he swam over to her, looking down at his own familiar, blue tail.

"Umm, I was a part of Kairi's mind when she learned? Plus your memories?" Naminé suggested.

"Oh, right," Sora said sheepishly before turning to face Riku, who was getting used to his golden-coloured fin again, though the process went pretty quickly. "So, where now?"

"Huh?" Riku blurted out before remembering that Sora wanted him to take charge in this world. "Oh, right. Well, the last time I was here, Ariel was on the land, so that's where we were transported. Think she came back to the sea and that's why we're here?"

Sora thought about that for a moment before saying his head, "No, I don't think so. Ariel is stubborn, and if she was on the land I doubt she'd come back for much. Does time move the same here as the other worlds?"

"I actually think it's a bit slower than most worlds," Riku said after thinking about it. "You said that Ariel was pretty much the same between the times you visited her first, right? Like a year hadn't passed for her like it did for almost everyone else."

"That's just confusing," the brunet complained.

"Well, we should go and ask around," Naminé suggested as she swam around the two young men in circles. "I'm sure any one could tell us about her." She eyed a little fish that was swimming close to them and suddenly darted at it. "Hi! Have you seen Ariel?" The fish screamed with surprise and darted away from her.

Sora and Riku laughed loudly needing to lean on one another to stay floating where they were. She turned around and glared at the two, but it just made them laugh harder.

"We should check Atlantica, as in the city," Sora said to Riku, though his amused smirk didn't leave his face. "If anything, Flounder would know where she is."

"That's an idea," Riku agreed. "Which way is it?"

"Umm..." Sora spun around in a circle, before coming to a stop and saying, "Well, we can follow what looks like a path down there, or we can let Naminé ask for directions again."

"Shut up," she grumbled, crossing her arms in front of her chest as she glared at them.

"Path it is," Riku said with a nod. He caught sight of the sea path that Sora was referring to and started following it, his two friends trailing behind him. There wasn't much to see for a while, just rocks, shells, seaweed and the occasional starfish that completely ignore them, everything else was dark blue as far as they could see.

"This is boring," Naminé whispered to Sora. "Why is it that the most exciting things seem to happen to you when you're alone? Something needs to happen."

"Don't jinx it," Riku mumbled, his green eyes keeping an eye on the area around them. Though there was nothing, in sight, he knew that their visibility only went so far, and sharks could appear out of nowhere.

Sora and Naminé were talking quietly behind him when Riku came to a sudden stop. They both swam into him since they weren't paying attention. "Pay attention! Do you guys hear that?"

Sora strained for a moment before a huge smile appeared on his face and said, "Singing."

"Okay, so I'm not crazy. Someone's singing?"

"Not just someone, a lot of people if we can hear it from here," he said, still grinning. "That's good, that means we're almost to Atlantica."

"Seriously?"

"Merpeople like music," Sora said with a shrug.

"Well, lets go!" Naminé said happily, shoving both of them out of the way and swimming past them, eager to see Atlantica. From Sora's memories, she knew it was beautiful, but over the years she was separate from Kairi, she realized that seeing a memory and seeing something herself was a completely different experience. She could hear the music now too, and was following it through the crevices in the rock before her.

Finally, she reached the other side and came to a stop, her mouth falling open in pure awe as the golden city of Atlantica came into view.

"Naminé!" Riku scolded her as he and Sora finally caught up. "Don't do that, you could—holy crap. That's Atlantica?"

"That's Atlantica," Sora echoed, tilting his head to look up when he realized that he could see a bunch of small figures in the distance swimming up towards the surface. "But I doubt we'll find anyone there."

"Why's that?" the silver-haired young man asked as he scanned the area around them.

Sora pointed upwards with his thumb, and Riku looked up, only now noticing that other merpeople were swimming up towards the surface. He stared for a moment before saying, "Might as well follow them. Come on."

Naminé hesitated a bit. She wanted to explore Atlantica, but she had to remind herself that they had a job to do. She would have to get used to putting what she wanted to do on the back-burner, so she shrugged off the want and followed after her two friends.

"_Up from the sea we rise, up to the world of skies, there's never been not ever before a child of sea and shore. Up to the world of skies, forever to be, together we sore, under the sea and under the sun."_

"Can everyone in this world sing?" the blonde asked as she caught up to her friends.

"Most merpeople can, I think," Sora said with a shrug. "Ariel mentioned something about a silent law that was in place for a long time, so merpeople really got into music when the law was removed. She didn't really explain much about it. What I'm wondering about is why the hell everyone's going to the surface."

"The last time I was here people seemed to know about merpeople," Riku explained. "Maybe because Ariel married Eric?" He quickly changed his train of thought. "We should come up behind everyone else, just in case."

"Aye aye, Captain," Sora saluted and Naminé giggled a bit at Riku's dry glare.

The three of them made their way up to the surface, splashing above the waves behind a large group of mermaids. They were all surrounding a large, rather magnificent ship. Sora tilted his head slightly as he stared at it before looking at his friends and saying, "Wonder what's going on?"

"I don't like it," Riku said suddenly, green eyes narrowed a bit. "The monitors said that there was some darkness here. If there is, this is exactly the type of place it'd strike."

"Great," Naminé muttered as she squinted her eyes at the ship. "Ariel! And it looks like…she's holding a baby!"

"Huh?" Both boys looked up, and Sora impulsively swam into the group of merpeople to get a closer look. His cerulean eyes went wide with surprise when he saw that there was, indeed, a small, black-haired baby held securely in her arms.

"This is your world, my darling. One world, the land and sea. My hope for you for always, is that your heart will hold part of me," he heard Ariel saying in a sing-song voice to the baby. He watched as Eric joined them, smiling at the baby, and he suddenly felt bad.

Sora looked around as King Triton rose up from the water, and suddenly jerked backwards. "Oh, sorry," he said quickly to the person he ran in to before hurrying back to Riku and Naminé.

"What happened?" Riku asked with alarm when Sora swam back to them quickly. "Did you see something?"

"How can we ask her to come with us?" Sora asked them, his eyes darting back to the boat where King Triton was looking at his granddaughter. "That baby's probably only a few months old."

"Aww, are you feeling sentimental?" Naminé asked him teasingly, but Sora just sent her a sharp glare.

Riku ignored the two of them, his eyes narrowed slightly. He shook his head and said, "Something doesn't feel right here. I don't mean like Heartless or Endless. But there's something dark here."

That shut both of them up as they looked around.

"Melody!"

They whipped around at Ariel's scream and watched as a different type of creature rose out of the water, the baby, Melody, wrapped in one of her tentacles.

"Ursula's alive, again?" Sora asked with a groan, but didn't wait for an answer as he started shoving himself past other merpeople.

"And she found Weight Watchers," Naminé added to Riku.

The eldest of the group frowned and said, "That's not Ursula. I don't know who…but she's not that witch. Come on, we have to make sure Sora doesn't do anything stupid."

Sora surfaced again at the front of the crowd of merpeople, his blue eyes focusing on the creature before him.

"Ursula's crazy sister!" Sebastian (it was easy to recognize his voice) cried out, and for a moment, Sora had to wonder how someone could be crazier than Ursula, but shrugged that thought aside. Though he kept it hidden, he summoned his Keyblade below the water.

"I didn't miss the cake and ice cream, did I?" she asked, staring at Triton and Ariel.

"Morgana!" Triton raged, his trident glowing with power as he pointed it at her. "Surrender the baby at once!"

"Nah ah ah," Morgana said, shaking her finger as she brought Melody in front of her, and even Sora had to cringe as Ursula's sister gave the baby a kiss on the cheek. Once she saw that Trident was backing down, she moved a bit away from the boat and said, "Ursula simply would have loved to come, but…oh what was the problem? Oh right. You all shishkabob her!" She was using her tentacles to throw Melody up into the air and back down again as she spoke, and Sora could see the anger radiating off of Ariel, watching as he right hand flexed a little. She was forcing herself not to summon her Keyblade, he realized. "One minute you're on top, the next your sushi. How is that fair?" She smirked a bit. "Then again, who said we have to play fair?"

Sora felt it a split second before they appeared. He heard screams as merpeople scattered around him at the sight of a giant shark with glowing yellow eyes. He moved out of the way, not sure if this was a Heartless or an Endless. If it was an Endless, his single Keyblade would be useless, and he always found it difficult to use large amounts of powerful magic such as drive forms or other special attacks in certain forms, his merman one being a particular example.

"Sora," Riku hissed from behind him, startling him a bit as he spun around to look at his friend. "Get that baby. We'll deal with Jaws."

"Now hand over the Trident and the Keyblade, or your granddaughter is shark bait!"

"Or not!"

"Huh?" Morgana looked around just in time to see two flashes of light. The next thing she knew, her shark was forced under the waves by Riku and Naminé.

Naminé let out a small scream as the Shark Endless (since it definitely wasn't a heartless), snapped in her direction, almost catching her arm in its fearsome jaw. Riku slammed Way to Dawn on it's head, forcing it's mouth shut, but it did very little damage. "What?"

"It's skin is thick, like a real sharks!" Naminé said as she swam behind it. Without uttering a word, she pointed Chain of Memories at the shark, a spear of ice growing around it. That didn't hold the shark for long though, it's sheer body size and strength shattering the ice. "Damnit!"

"Th—nope," Riku quickly changed his mind, realizing that letting lightning out under water was probably a bad idea. "Bludgeon to death it is!"

Above the water, while Riku and Naminé fought off the single Endless. Ariel was quick to summon her Keyblade. She pointed it at Morgana and yelled out, "Water!"

Morgana didn't expect the attack, letting out a yelp of surprise as she was thrown back onto the stingrays that she road up to the surface. It was at that precise moment that her grip on Melody went slack, and the baby went flying.

"Melody!" she screamed, and was above to dive into the water herself, but the shark was thrown out of the water by a powerful wave, blocking her view.

Sora was sure he'd never moved that fast in his life. Between those few seconds that he saw little Melody being tossed into the air, and just before she hit the water, he shot forward and managed to grab the baby. His first reaction was panic, but then he heard a bit of giggling and looked down at the baby in his arms. Her blue eyes glinted up at him happily as she reached up and tugged at his spiky brown hair, and he let out a sigh of relief. It was impossible for him to keep her completely out of the water as he made his way around the flailing shark (who was pulled back under the water by Riku), over to the boat. Once he was close enough, he called up, "Ariel!"

The frantic redhead looked down at the water, uncomprehending blue eyes staring at his for a moment until they shifted, locking onto the child in his arms. "Melody!"

There was a frantic splash behind Sora, and he held the baby closer to him as he looked around. Morgana appeared above the waves, looking at them all furiously. "This isn't the end! Mark my words! No amount of power from any of those weapons will stop me from getting what I want!"

Riku and Naminé appeared to Sora's right side, and the three of them gave the sea witch defiant looks while Triton yelled, "After her!"

The laughter that rang through the air sent shivers down Sora's spine. It sounded the exact same as Ursula. Yes, crazy definitely ran in their family. In a spiralling pool of dark water, Morgana vanished, leaving behind the words, "You will never find me, but I'll find you! And your granddaughter!"

"We shall not rest until that mad woman is vanquished!" Triton roared angrily, his trident glowing as he spoke to the merpeople around him. "Find her!" They all quickly scattered at his words.

Sora was jerked away from the scene when a rope ladder unravelled beside him, he looked up and saw Eric scaling down the ship towards him, Ariel waiting on the deck with her Keyblade, Mysterious Abyss, clutched so tightly in her hand that it was turning her knuckles white. Melody let out a happy garble as she saw her father coming towards them.

Sora waited until Eric was sure he had a firm grip on the ladder with one hand and his feet before putting Melody into his free arm. The young man let out a sigh of relief, a strained smile on his face as he said, "Thank you, Sora." The smile might have been strained, but his words were honest.

Sora, Riku and Naminé stayed below Eric until his feet were firmly placed on the deck of the boat. He was barely there for a moment before Melody was snatched out of his arms by her frantic mother.

"She won't be safe here," Riku said grimly. "Ursula was evil, but it was calculated. You could smell crazy off that freak."

"So what do we do?" Naminé asked. "I doubt we'll be able to get Ariel to leave her."

Riku looked over at Sora, who was staring at Eric, Ariel and the baby as they spoke to King Triton. Ariel looked so sad as she passed him a golden, shell locket. Sora just sighed and shook his head sadly. The brunet looked back at Riku and shrugged.

Riku, however, no longer looked grim or clueless. His green eyes flickered from Sora, up to Ariel and back again with a calculating expression.

"You have an idea," Sora said to him.

"I have an idea," he said with a nod. "I'm just not sure how much everyone's going to like it."

**vvvvv**

Ariel hugged Melody to her as she sat at the edge of the water on the soft, white sand of the beach. After what happened earlier, Eric was surprised that she was willing to go so close to the ocean, especially since she already told her own father that he'd never be able to see Melody again, at least not while Morgana was out there.

Ariel wasn't just anyone though. She was unique in many different ways, and he knew that more than anyone else.

"Ariel, you and Melody should go back inside," he suggested to his wife.

She slowly shook her head negatively, her long red hair once again loosely flowing down her back, swaying with the movement of her head. Her bare feet were in the water, and to most people, it would have been freezing, but water temperature never bothered Ariel.

Movement in the water suddenly got both of their attention. Eric stepped forward, his hand on the sword at his waist, but the tension vanished when he saw familiar, spiky hair appear, followed by two others. Though Eric knew who Sora was, having met him briefly before, he was much more familiar with Riku, who came to their world two years prior to stop the Heartless and Nobodies there.

Ariel, on the other hand, knew Sora better. She watched as he and the two others came into the shallows, and she motioned for him to come closer. Sora pulled himself up onto the beach, leaving his blue fin in the water a bit. "Hey Ariel. Guess this was a bad time to stop in, huh?"

"No, not a bad time," she said with a shake of her head as she ran a hand through Melody's hair. "You and your friends saved her."

"Right, you guys met Riku, before, right? This is Naminé," he motioned towards his other two friends. Melody perked up a bit at his voice and held out a hand, latching onto his spiky hair again.

"Melody," Ariel scolded the girl.

"It's okay," Sora assured her, wincing only a little.

"Why are you here?" Eric asked. It may have been abrupt, but it was important.

While Sora made funny faces at Melody, who happily giggled at him, Riku took the opportunity to explain. "We've been traveling world to world to find the other Keyblade Bearers."

"There's this insane, evil guy out there somewhere," Naminé added. "He's got some kind of plan, and sends around Endless, like that shark, to different worlds. As of right now, the only clue we have is that he attacks or helps others attack people with Keyblades. Not like an invasion of the world or anything like that either."

"His name is Master Xehanort, and the problem is that he is a Keyblade Master too," Riku said grimly.

"The bad guy has a Keyblade?" Ariel asked, sounding stunned. She'd never known that a person who had a Keyblade could be an enemy too.

"Worse, he's a Master. The only Masters we have are Mickey and this goofball here," Riku said, motioning to Sora, who was still making faces at a madly giggling Melody.

"So why are you here exactly?" Ariel asked.

"We want to prepare every Keyblade Bearer as best as we can. So what we're going is picking everyone up and bringing them to our world, Twilight's Destiny, for training," Naminé explained.

"No," Eric said quickly.

"Before you say anything, here us out," Riku said quickly while holding up his hands. "Triton said something about you planning to put up a wall."

"Yes," Ariel said with a nod, bringing Melody back close to her. "We need to protect Melody from Morgana."

"But those walls won't be up for a while, right?" Naminé said. "That'll leave you exposed."

"Ariel and Melody were going to go to one of our vacation homes inland," Eric explained.

"You'll leave them stranded where Xehanort can attack," Riku pointed out. "My proposal is that both Ariel and Melody come with us. Xehanort can't get into Twilight's Destiny. Ariel can train to use her Keyblade and both she and Melody will be safe." He turned his attention from Eric to Ariel. "Not only is it impossible for Morgana and Xehanort to touch Melody, but you'll be learning how to use your Keyblade to the best of your abilities to protect everyone in the future."

Ariel looked away from them, but then looked down at Melody in her arms. Eric was about to protest again, but she held up a hand to him and asked, "Will it be safe for her? To go through those warps or whatever they are?"

"She'll be fine. Kairi's gone through them and she's pregnant," Naminé said in an offhanded way.

Ariel shot Sora a quick look, but stayed focused on the matter at hand. "Eric, I think they're right."

"What?" he asked, sounding stricken.

"I know that you don't want either of us to go, but it won't be long. I'll be able to use my Keyblade, and no one will be able to hurt us again." Ariel stood up and looked out over the ocean. "Maybe it'll mean I won't have to give up the rest of my home for that long too."

"Eric," Sora spoke up, "I know it'll be hard to let them go but isn't their safety worth it? It's just for a little while. You can even rush to get that wall up."

Eric looked at everyone one by one until his eyes landed on his wife and daughter. He let out a sigh and said, "Give us a little time?"

"Take as much as you need," Riku answered for them, knowing that Ariel was going to come with them. Ariel and Eric left, going back up to the castle as the three of them sank back into the water a little more.

"Good job, Riku," Sora said to his friend.

"I didn't do anything," the elder of the two replied.

"You got Ariel to come with us. I didn't think that we'd be able to," Sora said with a small shrug.

"It was smart idea," Naminé agreed, nodding her head. "Who knows, maybe you'll get to be a Keyblade Master sooner than you think."

Sora didn't comment on that, he just stared out over the ocean. "You know, I'm gonna miss the ocean."

"We live by one, Sora," Riku pointed out.

"Yeah, but how often will I get to enjoy it? The world just came back together fully. People are confused and scared." For once, Sora didn't sound all that bitter about the fact that his life was changing so quickly. "It's okay though. I had time to talk to Mickey and Yen Sid, and it'll be hard but it'll be okay. I'll still miss just sitting by the ocean though."

"I'll miss home too," Naminé said with a nod. "Radiant Garden was where I was born, but Destiny Islands is home."

"I'm glad I'm not you guys," Riku said, trying to lighten up the air around them, which was odd, since Sora was the one that usually tried to do that.

Sora and Naminé both chuckled at his words. It wasn't really funny, but they'd take any way to laugh.

Ariel returned a little while later with Melody in hand. She had two bags over her shoulder, one for her and one for her daughter. She changed from her dress into pants and boots, and her hair was still down loose. Eric wasn't with her though.

"We agreed that it'd be easier to say goodbye inside," she said, explaining the absence of her husband. For her part, Ariel looked like she wanted to cry. "And you're sure you don't mind Melody coming? She is only young and still cries a lot."

"It's okay," Naminé assured her.

"Right, Sora's going to have to deal with a crying baby in a few months anyway," Riku agreed. "Maybe you can even give him and Kairi some tips and tricks."

"We should go," Sora interrupted them, glaring at Riku a bit. "We have a few other places to stop before we can go back home."

**vvvvv**

**Note**

I think it's been close to a year since I updated this. I don't really have anything to say about that, I am sorry though. Things happen. Thank you for everyone who reviewed, and a special thanks to all the people who sent messages asking if I was ever going to update and assuring me that they'd still like to see the rest of this. I can't promise when the next chapter will be out, but I can promise it won't be a year from now.

_**Krystal Lily Potter**_


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